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CHILD'S 



STORY OF THE BIBLE 





REBEKAH. 



CHILD'S 



Story of the Bible 



7^ 



MARY Af LATH BURY 



WITH INTRODUCTION BY 

BISHOP JOHN H. VINCENT 



^ 



ILLUSTRATED 

WITH NUMEROUS FULL-PAGE COLORED PLATES, 
AND PHOTO-ENGRAVINGS 



tk 



BOSTON 

DeWolfe, Fiske & Co. 






COPYRIGHT, 1898 

By De Wolfe, Fiske & Co. 




COPltS RECEIVES^ 



1698. 






REFACE. 



To Mothers. 

I HAVE been asked to prepare this little aid for your use in the Home 
— that first and greatest of schools. The school was founded by the 

Maker of men, and He called mothers to be its earliest and most 
important teachers. He prepared a text-book for it which we call His 
Word, illustrating it richly and fully from life and Nature, and filling 
it with His Spirit. Wherever it is known, as the children become the 
members of the Church, the citizens of the State, the people of the 
World, the Book goes with them, forming the Church, the State, the 
World. It is not only equal to the need, but contains infinite riches 
that wait to be unveiled. 

That no busy mother may say, " I cannot take time to gather from 
the Bible the simple lessons that my children need," this book of little 
stories — together making one — has been written. I have tried to preserve 
the pure outlines of the sacred record from the vivid description and the 
suggestive supposition that are sometimes introduced to add charm to the 
story, and in all quoted speech I have used the exact words of the author- 
ized version of the Scriptures, so that the earliest impression made upon 
the memory of the child might be one that should remain. 

The stories are not a substitute for the Word^^omynittle approaches 
to it through which young feet may be guided by her who holds a place 
next to the great Teacher in His work with little children. 

M. A. L. 



INTRODUCTION. 



WHEN the children gather at mother's knee, and the tiniest finds a 
place in mother's arms, and all clamor for a "story," "a story, 
mamma," how lovely is the picture — the living picture — that 
circle makes ! Love, longing, wisdom, expectancy, faith, shining eyes, 
lips that move involuntarily, keeping time to the sweet movements of 
mother's lips ! Blessed group ! Happy mother ! 

When the stories mother tells are light and meaningless, full of rhyme 
and rollick, even their eyes are bright and faces radiant, and her own sweet 
face and voice give charm and weight and significance to the delicious non- 
sense she rehearses. 

Why not give to this receptive and eager audience stories full of 
deepest meaning, facts, parables, myths charged with truth ? Why not 
people little memories with heroes, saints, kings, prophets, apostles ? Why 
not give stories to story-loving youngsters that will turn into immortal 
pictures and be transformed some day into living factors in the making of 
character? And why not give them as comparison the babe of Bethlehem, 
the boy of Nazareth, the lad of twelve years in the schools of the Temple, 
the man of gentle love, the preacher of righteousness, the worker of heavenly 
wonders, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace ? 

The Book of books is the children's Book. It is a story book. And the 
stories are "true stories." And the lessons to be drawn from them are num- 



viii. INTRODUCTION. 

berless, and will come up out of the treasure-house of memory when mother's 

eyes are closed and her voice silent. 

It is a great thing to put mother and the Book together in Baby's 
thought ; in the big boy's memory ; in the grown-up man's heart and life. 

This book is mother's book ; to aid her in doing the best and most lasting 
work a mother can do to sow seed and set out vines the branches of which 
shall reach into the world of spirits, and from which she and her children may 
long afterwards pluck fruit together in the eternal kingdom. 

JOHN H. VINCENT. 

Chautauqua, 1898. 



J- '^Sw- 



CONTENTS. 



THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



CHAPTER. 
I. 

II. 

lU. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 
XVI. 

XVII. 



PAGE. 

The Beginning of Things . i 

The Great Flood .... 4 

Abraham— the Father of the 

Faithful 7 

Isaac, the Shepherd Prince . 14 

Jacob, a Prince of God . . 16 

Joseph, the Castaway . . 22 

Joseph, a Servant, a Prisoner 

and a Saint 25 

Joseph, the Savior of His 

People 28 

The Cradle that was Rocked 

by a River 35 

Moses in Midian .... 38 

The Rod that Troubled Egypt 39 

Following the Cloud ... 44 

In the Borders of Canaan . 52 

A Nation that was Born in 

a Day 54 

Samson, the Strong ... 58 

Ruth 62 

Samuel — the Child of the 

Temple 66 



CHAPTER. 

XVIII. 
XIX. 



XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 

XXV. 
XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 



PAGE. 



The Making of a King . 

The Shepherd Boy of Beth 
lehem 



The Power of a Pebble 
Faithful unto Death 
David, the Outcast 
Every Inch a King 
David's Sin 
David's Sorrow 



69 

72 
74 
76 

79 
82 

84 
86 y 



The Building of the Golden 
House 92 

Elijah, the Great Heart of 
Israel 97 

The Little Chamber on the 
Wall 104 

A Little Maid of Israel . .108 

The Two Boy Kings . .109 

The Four Captive Children . in 

The Master of the Magicians 116 

The Story of Jonah . . .121 

Esther, the Queen . . .125 



(ix.) 



CONTENTS. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



CHAPTER. 


PAGE. 1 


CHAPTER. 


I. 


The Angels of the Advent . 


135 


XXVIII. 


II. 


Following the Star . . . 


139 




III. 


The Flight into Egypt . . 


141 


XXIX. 


IV. 


The Boy of Nazareth . . 


145 




V. 


The Young Carpenter . 


148 


XXX. 


VI. 


The Voice in the Wilder- 




XXXI. 




ness 


149 




VII. 


Jesus in the Desert . 


152 




VIII. 


The First Disciples . . . 


154 


XXXII. 


IX. 
X. 


The First Miracle . . . 
In His Father's House . . 


156 
158 


XXXIII. 


XI. 


A Talk about the Breath of 
God 


160 


XXXIV. 


XII. 


A Talk about the Water of 




XXXV. 




Life 


162 


XXXVI. 


XIII. 


Jesus in the Synagogue 


164 


XXXVII. 


XIV. 


Among the Fishermen . 


168 




XV. 


The Healing Hand of Jesus 


169 


XXXVIII. 


XVI. 


Following Jesus .... 


170 




XVII. 


Friends of Jesus .... 


175 


XXXIX. 


XVIII. 


The Lord of Life . . . 


179 


XL. 


XIX. 


Mary of Magdala 


180 


XLI. 


XX. 


Stories Told by the Lake . 


183 




XXI. 


Stilling the Storm 


186 


XLII. 


XXII. 


Called Back 


188 




XXIII. 


Two by Two .... 


192 


XLIII. 


XXIV. 


Walking the Waves — The 




XLIV 


XXV. 


Two Kingdoms 
A Journey with Jesus . 


196 
198 


XLV. 


XXVI. 


The Christian Sabbath — 




XLVI. 




Peter's Confession of Faith 


202 




XXVII. 


"And We Beheld His Glory" 




XLVII. 




— A Father's Faith . . 


206 


XLVIII 



PAGE. 

The Lord and the Little 
Ones — Leaving Galilee . 208 

At the House of Martha — 
The Good Shepherd . .210 

The Lesson Stories of Jesus 216 

The Voice that Waked the 
Dead— The Children of 
the Kingdom . . . .220 
The Young Man that Jesus 

Loved 225 

The Last Journey to Jeru- 
salem 226 

The Prince of Peace . .228 
The Children in the Temple 229 
The Last Day in the Temple 230 

The Last Words in the Tem- 
ple 232 

An Evening on the Mount 
of Olives 236 

The Holy Supper . . .237 

The Night of the Betrayal . 240 

Despised and Rejected of 

Men 244 

The King of Heaven at the 

Bar of Pilate . . . .246 
Love and Death . . . .250 
Love and Life . . . .254 
The Evening of Easter . .258 

The Lord's Last Days witn 

His Disciples . . . .261 
"He Ascended into Heaven" 264 
The Promise of the Father . 266 



An Afterword 



268 



CHILD'S 



STORY OF THE BIBLE 



THE OLD TESTAMENT 




RETURN OF THE DOVE. 



CHILD'S 

Story of the Bible. 



CHAPTER L 

THE BEGINNING OF THINGS. 

AWAY back in the beginning of things God made the sky and the earth 
we live upon. At first it was all dark, and the earth had no form, but 
God was building a home for us, and his work went on through six 
long days, until it was finished as we see it now. 

On the first day God said, "Let there be light," and the black night 
turned to gray, and light came. God called the light Day, and the darkness 
Night, and the evening and the morning made the first day. 

Then God divided the waters, so that there were clouds above and seas 
below, and He called the clouds heaven. It was the second day. 

Then the seas were gathered together by themselves, and the dry land 
rose above them, and God saw that it was good. Then He called to the 
grass, and the plants, and the trees to come out of the ground, and they 
came bearing their seeds, and He called the third day good. 

Then God called to the two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine 
clear in the sky, which had been first dark, and then gray, and they rose and 
set to make day and night, and seasons and years, and the stars came also, 
and it was the fourth day. 

Then God called for all kinds of fishes that swim in the seas, and rivers, 
and for all kinds of birds that fly in the air, and they came, and it was the 
fifth day. 

And then God called for the animals to live on the green earth, and the 
cattle and the great beasts, and the creeping things came, and God called 
them all good. 

After this he made the first of the great family of Man. He made them 
after His own likeness. He made their bodies from the earth, but their souls 
He breathed into them, so that Man is a spirit, living in an earthly body, and 

(I) 



2 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

can understand about God and love Him. He blessed them and told them 
to become many, and to rule over all the earth, with its beasts and birds, and 
fishes, and it was the sixth day. 

The Man's name was Adam, and the woman, who was made from a 
piece of Adam's body nearest to his heart, was named Eve. 

Then God's world was finished, and on the seventh day there was rest. 
God was pleased with all that was made, and He made the seventh day holy, 
by setting it apart from all the others. We keep the Sabbath, or the Lord's 
day still, in which his children may rest and worship. 

Adam and Eve were very happy, for they had never done anything 
wrong. God gave them a beautiful wide garden, called Eden, full of flowers 
and all kinds of fruit, and with a river flowing through it, and told Adam to 
take care of the garden, and He sent all the animals and birds to Adam to be 
named. God told him also that he might eat the fruit of all the trees of the 
garden except one — the tree of knowledge of good and evil — but if he ate of 
the fruit of that tree he should surely die, and Adam and Eve loved God, and 
had no wish to disobey Him, for He was their Father. 

But there was a creeping serpent in the garden, and the evil spirit that 
puts wrong thoughts in our hearts spoke to Eve through the serpent. 

"You shall not die," he said, "but you shall be wise like God if you will 
eat of this fruit," and Eve ate of the fruit, and gave it to her husband. Then 
they knew that they had sinned, and when they heard the voice of God in the 
garden calling them, they hid among the trees, for they were unhappy and 
afraid. When the Lord had asked Adam if he had eaten of the fruit that 
was forbidden, Adam laid the sin upon Eve, who gave it to him, and Eve 
said that the serpent had tempted her to eat of the fruit. God knew that 
they must suffer for their sin, so He sent them out of the garden to make a 
garden for themselves, and to work, and suffer pain, as all who came after 
them have done to this day ; but He gave them a great promise, that among 
their children's children One should be born who would be stronger than sin, 
and a Savior from it. 

After this two little children were sent to comfort Adam and Eve — first 
Cain, and then Abel. When they grew up Cain was a farmer, but Abel was 
a shepherd. 

They had been taught to worship God by bringing the best of all they 
had to Him, and so Cain brought fruit and grain to lay upon his altar, but 
Abel brought a lamb. 




DRIVEN FROM EDEN. 



4 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

God looked into their hearts and saw that Abel wished to do right, but 
Cain's heart was full of sin. Cain was angry because the Lord was pleased 
with the worship of Abel, and while they talked in the field Cain killed his 
brother. When the Lord said to Cain, " Where is thy brother?" he answered, 
"I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?" And the Lord sent him away 
from home, to wander from place to place over the earth, and find no rest, 
but He promised that no one should hurt Cain, or kill him as he had killed 
his brother, so he went away into another land to live. 

Adam lived many years after this and had other children, but at last he 
died, when his children's children were beginning to spread over the land. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE GREAT FLOOD. 

As the people of the earth grew to be many more and spread over 
the plains and hills, they also grew very wicked. They forgot God, and 
all the thoughts of their hearts were evil. Only Noah still worshipped 
God and tried to do ris;-ht. 

The people had destroyed themselves, and so God said to Noah : 

" The end of all flesh is come ; make thee an ark of gopher wood." 

He told Noah to make it of three stories, with a window in the top, 
and a door in the side. It was to be a great floating house, more than four 
hundred feet long and full of rooms, and it was to be covered with tar 
within and without, so that the water should not creep in. 

" I bring a flood of waters upon the earth," said the Lord, " and every- 
thing that is in the earth shall die." 

This was to be the house of Noah, with his wife, and his three sons and 
their wives, during the great flood. 

Does the house seem large for eight people ? God had told Noah to 
make room for a little family of every kind of bird and beast that lived, 
and to gather food of all kinds for himself and for them. 

So Noah did all that the Lord had told him to do, and seven days be- 
fore the great storm he heard the Lord callinof : 

" Come thou and all thy house into the ark," and that very day, Noah 
with his wife and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japtheth, and their wives, went 




THE GREAT FLOOD. 



6 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

into their great black house, and through the window in the top came flying' 
the little families of birds and insects, from the tiny bees and humming birds, 
to the great eagles, and through the door on the side came the famlies of ani- 
mals, two by two, from the little mice to the tall giraffes, and the elephants, 
and when all had come the Lord shut them in. 

It rained forty days and forty nights, and the waters rose higher and 
higher, covering the hills, and creeping up the mountains, so that every living 
thing died except Noah, and all that were with him in the ark. 

But after ten months the tops of the mountains were seen, and Noah 
sent out a raven and a dove. The raven flew to and fro, but the dove came 
back into the ark, because she found no place to rest her foot. 

After seven days Noah sent her out again, and she returned with an 
olive leaf in her bill, and then Noah knew that the waters were going away. 

After seven days again he sent out his good little dove, and she did not 
come back. So Noah was sure that the earth was getting dry, and that God 
would soon tell him to go out of the ark. 

And so he did. Think how glad the sheep and cows were to find fresh 
grass, and the birds to fly to the green trees. 

What a silent world it must have been, for there were none but Noah 
and his family in all the earth. Noah did not forget how God had saved 
them, and he made an altar of stone, and offered beasts and birds as a sacri- 
fice. When he looked up to the sky there was a beautiful rainbow. It was 
God's promise that there should be no more floods upon the earth. He still 
sends the rainbow to show us that He is taking care of this world, and will 
always do so. 

Perhaps the people who lived after this — for Noah's children's children 
increased very fast — did not believe God's promise, for they began to build a 
great tower, or temple, on the plain of Shinar ; or perhaps they had grown 
proud and wicked, and wanted a temple for the worship of idols ; but the 
Lord changed their speech, so that they could not understand each other, and 
they were scattered over other countries ; and so each country began to have 
a language of its own. 



CHAPTER III. 

ABRAHAM THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL. 

The people who lived four thousand years ago were very much like 
children who easily forget. They told their children about the great flood, 
but nearly all forgot to tell them of the good God who is the Father of us all, 
whom we should always love and obey. Yet there is always one, if not more, 
who remembers God, and keeps his name alive in the world. 

Abram had tried to do right, though there was no Bible in the world 
then, and no one better than himself to help him but God, and one day He 
called Abram, and told him to go away from his father's house into another 
country. 

"A land that I will show thee," said the Lord, " and I will make of thee 
a great nation." 

He also made Abram a wonderful promise, — 

"In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 

He meant that sometime the Savior should be born among Abram's chil- 
dren's children, and that He should be the Savior of all the nations of the 
earth. 

Abram did just what God told him to do. He took Sarai, his wife, and 
Lot, his nephew, and some servants, and cows, and sheep, and camels, and 
asses, and went into the land of Canaan. When they rested at night Abram 
and Lot set some sticks in the ground, and covered them with skins for a 
tent, and near by they made an altar, where Abram offered a sacrifice, for 
that was the only way they could worship God when the earth was young. 

Abram went down into Egypt when there was a lack of food in Canaan, 
but he came back to Bethel, where he made the altar before, and worshipped 
God there. 

He was very rich, for his cattle and sheep had grown into great herds 
and flocks, though he had sold many in Egypt for silver, and gold, and food. 
Abram and Lot moved often, for their flocks and herds soon ate up the grass. 
Then they rolled up the tents, and loaded the camels and asses, and went 
where the grass was thick and fresh. 

They could easily live in tents, for the country was warm. But Abram's 
herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen sometimes quarreled. And so Abram spoke 

(7) 



8 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

kindly to Lot, and told him to take his servants, and flocks, and herds, and go 
where the pastures were good, and he would go the other way. So they 
parted, and Lot went to the low plains of the Jordan, but Abram went to the 
high plains of Mamre, in Hebron, and there he built another altar to the 
Lord, who had given him all that country — to him and to his children forever. 

There were warlike people in Canaan, and once when they had carried 
off Lot from Sodom, Abram took his servants and herdsmen and went out to 
fight. He had more than three hundred men, and they took Lot away from 
the enemy, and brought him back to Sodom. It was here that Abram met a 
wonderful man, who was both a king and a priest. His name was Mel- 
chisedek, and he brought Abram bread and wine, and blessed him there. 

After this, God spoke to Abram one evening, and promised that 
he should have a son, and then while Abram stood outside his tent, with 
the great sky thick with stars above him, God promised him that his chil- 
dren's children should grow to be as countless as the stars. That was hard 
to believe, but Abram believed God always and everywhere. 

Still no child came to Abram and Sarai, and Abram was almost a hun- 
dred years old, but God spoke to him again, and told him that he should be 
the father of many nations. 

He told Abram that a little boy would be born to them, and his name 
would be Isaac, and God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means 
" Father of many people," and Sarai's to Sarah, which means " Princess," 

Abraham was sitting in his tent one hot day, when three men stood by 
him. They were strangers, and Abraham asked them to rest beneath the 
tree, and bathe their feet, while he brought them food. So Sarah made cakes, 
and a tender calf was cooked, and these with butter, and milk, were set before 
the men. But they were not men of this world ; they were angels, and they 
had come to tell Abraham and Sarah once more that their little child was sure 
to come. Then the angels went away, but one of them, who must have been 
the Lord Himself in an angel's form, stopped to tell Abraham that He was 
going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, because the people who lived there 
were so very wicked, and Abraham prayed Him to spare them if even ten 
good men could be found in them, for he remembered that Lot lived in Sodom. 
But the Lord never forgets. The two angels went to Sodom and stayed with 
Lot until morning, when they took him and all his family outside the city, and 
then the Lord said to him, "Escape for thy life — look not behind thee, neither 
stay thou in all the plain." 




THE THREE STRANGERS. 



lo CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

And the Lord hid them in the little town of Zoar, while a great rain of 
fire fell upon the wicked cities of the plain, until they became a heap of ashes. 
Only Lot's wife looked back to see the burning cities, and she became a pillar 
of salt. 

The next morning when Abraham looked from Hebron down toward the 
cities of the plain, a great smoke was rising from them like the smoke of a 
furnace. 

At last the Lord's promise to Abraham and Sarah came true. A little 
son was born to them, and they called him Isaac. They were very happy, 
for though Abraham was a hundred years old, no child had ever been sent 
them. 

When he was about a year old they made a great feast for him, and all 
brought gifts and good wishes, yet the little lad Ishmael, the son of 
Hagar, Sarah's servant, mocked at Isaac. Sarah was angry, and told her 
husband that Hagar and her boy must be sent away. So he sent them out 
with only a bottle of water and a loaf of bread ; for God had told Abraham 
to do as Sarah wished him to do, and He would take care of little Ishmael, 
and make him the father of another nation. 

When the water was gone, and the sun grew very hot, poor Hagar laid 
her child under a bush to die, for she was very lonely and sorrowful. While 
she hid her eyes and wept, saying, 

"Let me not see the death of the child," she heard a voice out of 
heaven telling her not to be afraid. 

"Arise, lift up the lad," said the voice, "tor I will make him a great 
nation." 

And God opened her eyes to see a well of water near. Then she filled 
the empty bottle, and gave the boy a drink, and God took good care of them 
ever after, though they lived in a wilderness. 

Ishmael grew up to be an archer, and became the father of the Arabs, 
who still live in tents as Ishmael did. 

But the Lord let a strange trial come to the little lad Isaac, also. His 
father loved and obeyed God, but there were heathen people around them, 
who worshipped idols, and sometimes killed their own children as a sacrifice 
to these idols. Abraham brought the best of his lambs and cattle to offer to 
the Lord ; but one day the Lord told Abraham to take his only son Isaac and 
offer him upon a mountain called Moriah as a burnt sacrifice to God. Abra- 
ham had always obeyed God, and believed his word, and now, though he could 
not understand, he rose up early in the morning and took his young son, with 




HAGAR IN THE DESERT. 



12 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

two servants, and an ass loaded with wood, to the place of which God had told 
him. 

They were three days on the journey, but at last they came to the high 
place, where the city of Jerusalem was afterward built, and to the very rock 
upon which the temple was built long afterward, with its great altar and Holy 
of Holies. 

Abraham had left the young men at the foot of the mount, and went with 
Isaac to the great rock on the top of the mount. 

" My father," said Isaac, "where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 

" My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering," said his 
father, still obeying God, and believing His word, that Isaac should be the 
father of many nations. 

Abraham made an altar of stones, and bound Isaac and laid him upon it, 
but when his hand was lifted to offer up the boy, the Lord called to him from 
heaven. " Lay not thine hand upon the lad," said the voice, " for now I know 
that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thine only son from me." 

Then Abraham turned and saw a ram with its twisted horns caugfht in 
the bushes, and he offered it to the Lord instead of his son. How glad and 
grateful Abraham must have been that morning, when he came down the 
mountain, with Isaac walking beside him, to think that he had still obeyed 
God when it was hard to do so. 

Abraham was an old man when Sarah died. They had lived together a 
long lifetime, and he mourned for her many days. He bought a field close by 
the oak-shaded plain of Mamre in Hebron, and there in a rocky cave he 
buried her. He was called a Prince of God by the Canaanites because he 
lived a true, faithful life. 

A few years after he also went to God, and his body was laid beside 
Sarah's in the cave-tomb. Ishmael came up from the south country to mourn 
with Isaac at the burial of their father, the Friend of God, and Father of the 
faithful. 




ON MOUNT MORIAH. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ISAAC THE SHEPHERD PRINCE. 

Before Abraham died, he thought much about his dear son Isaac, to 
whom he was going to leave all that he had. The young man had no mother, 
no sister, and soon he would have no father. So the old man called his old 
and faithful servant, and told him to go on a journey into the land of his 
fathers, and bring back with him a wife for his son Isaac. 

The children of Nahor, Abraham's brother, lived there still, and Abra- 
ham wished for his son Isaac a wife of his own people, who should be both 
20od and beautiful, and not like the heathen women of Canaan. 

So the old servant listened to Abraham and promised to do all that he 
commanded. 

He loaded ten camels with presents for his master's family away in 
Syria, and Abraham said : 

"The Lord shall send His angel before thee," and from his tent door he 
saw the little caravan of camels and servants, as they set out across the 
plain, toward the land beyond the river Jordan. 

There was a desert to cross and many dangers to meet, but the old 
servant believed in the God his master worshipped, and was not afraid. 

When he came to Haran, he stopped outside the town by a well of 
water. It was early evening, and the women were coming each with a 
water-jar on her shoulder, to draw water. 

The old man prayed that the Lord would show him which among these 
daughters of the men of the city, was the one who was to be his young mas- 
ter's wife. 

Before his prayer was ended, Rebekah, of the family of Abraham's 
brother Nahor, came bearing her pitcher on her shoulder. She looked very 
kind and beautiful, and when she had filled her pitcher, the old man asked 
her for a drink of water. Then she let down the pitcher upon her hand 
saying : 

"Drink, my lord," and asked if she should also give water to his 

camels. While she was giving him a drink, the man showed her some 

golden jewels that he had brought, and when he had asked her name, and 

knew that God had sent her to him for his young master, he gave them to 

(14) 



ISAAC THE SHEPHERD PRINCE. 15 

her, and worshipped the Lord who had led him to the house of his master's 

brother. 

Then Rebekah ran in and told Laban, her brother, and the old servant 

of Abraham had a warm welcome at the door of Nahor's house. 

"Come in, thou blessed of the Lord," they said. 

And after they had cared for the camels and the men, there was a hur- 
rying of servants to prepare a feast, but the old man would not taste food 
until he had given the message of his master. Then the father and brother 
of Rebekah, saw that the Lord had sent for her, and they said : 

"Let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken." 

And the old servant bowed his face to the ground worshipping the 
Lord who had led him. 

Then there was feasting and giving of costly gifts, and preparing to 
take a long journey, for the old servant was in haste to get back to 
his master, and Rebekah, who was willing to go, took her maid-servants and 
rode away into a far country to be the wife of Isaac. 

When Isaac was walking in his field at sunset, thinking and praying to 
God, he looked up and saw that the camels were coming, and he hastened to 
meet them. When the old servant told Rebekah that it was his young 
master, she alighted from her camel, and covered herself with a long veil 
as was the custom of the Syrian women. When the old servant had told the 
story of his journey, he gave Rebekah to Isaac, and he took her to the tent 
that had been his mother's, and she became his wife, so that he was no longer 
lonely and sad. 

Isaac lived to a very great age, and had two sons, Jacob and Esau. He 
was a gentle, quiet man, fond of his family, his flocks, and herds, and at the 
place where his father and mother were buried, he lived among the fields 
and oak groves of Hebron until he died. 



CHAPTER V. 

JACOB, A PRINCE OF GOD. 

Jacob and Esau were the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 

They did not look alike as twins often do, and they were very unlike 
in all their ways. As they grew up, Esau loved the forests and wild places. 
He made bows and arrows, and was a hunter, and brought home wild birds 
and deer, for his father was very fond of such food. ' Jacob helped his father 
with the flocks, and learned how to cook food from his mother, who loved 
him more than she loved Esau. 

One day Esau came home from hunting tired and hungry, and smelled 
the delicious soup of red lentils that Jacob was making. He begged Jacob 
to give him some, and Jacob, who wanted to be eldest, and have the right to 
the blessing that fathers gave to the first-born in those days, said : 

" Sell me this day thy birthright," and Esau gave him all his rights as 
the first born, for a little food which he might have had as a free gift. 

Jacob wanted to be counted in the great promise that God had given 
to Abraham, but Esau despised it. 

Afterward, when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, he called Esau, 
and asked him to go out into the fields and shoot a deer, and cook the veni- 
son that he loved, so that he might eat it and bless his first born before he 
died. 

Rebekah heard it, and told Jacob to bring kids from the flock, which she 
cooked and served as venison. Then she dressed Jacob in the clothes of 
Esau, and told him to say that it was Esau who had brought the venison. 
Isaac said : 

"The voice is the voice of Jacob," but he put his hands on him, and 
believed it was Esau, and blessed him. 

When Esau came home and brought venison to his father, Isaac said : 

" Who art thou ? " and when Esau said, " I am thy son, thy first-born, 
Esau," the old man trembled, and told Esau the blessing had been given to 
another. 

Poor Esau cried out with grief, " Hast thou but one blessing?" "Bless 
me, even me also, O my father." 

(i6) 




JACOB'S DREAM. 



1 8 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

And so Isaac blessed him, but he could not call back the blessing of the 
first-born. The Lord knew that Jacob would grow to be a good man, and 
love the things of God best, and that Esau would always love the things of 
this world best, yet it was wrong of Jacob and Rebekah to deceive^ for we 
may not do evil that good may come. 

After this Esau hated his brother, and said he would kill him. 

So Isaac called Jacob, and, blessing him again, sent him away into Syria 
to the house of Laban, where Rebekah had lived, and where Abraham's 
servant went to find her for his master's son. 

One night, when he was not far on his way, he lay down to sleep, with a 
stone for his pillow, on a hillside that looked toward his home, and he dreamed 
a wonderful dream. He saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and a 
vision of angels who were going up and down upon it. 

Above it stood the Lord, who spoke to Jacob, and gave to him the 
promise that He had first given to Abraham, and told him that He would go 
with him, and bring him again into his own land. 

Jacob was afraid when he woke, for he had seen the heavens opened, and 
had heard God's voice. He made an altar of the pillow of stone, and called 
it Bethel — the House of God — and then he vowed that the Lord should be 
his God, and he added, — 

" Of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth unto thee." 

When Jacob came to Haran, he saw the well from which his mother used 
to draw water. There were three flocks of sheep lying by it, waiting for all 
the flocks to gather in the cool of the day to be watered. Soon Rachel, the 
daughter of*Laban, came leading her father's flocks, and one of the shepherds 
told Jacob whose daughter she was. 

So Jacob rolled the stone from the well, and watered the flocks of Laban, 
his mother's brother. Then he kissed Rachel, and told her that he was 
Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father. 

There was great joy in Laban's house because Jacob had come, and after 
he had stayed a month with them Laban asked him to stay and take care of 
his flocks, and he would pay him for his work. 

Since the day he had seen Rachel leading her father's flocks he had 
chosen her in his heart to be his wife. So he said that he would work for 
Laban seven years, if at the end of that time he would give him Rachel for 
his wife. Laban was quite willing to do so, and the seven years seemed to 
Jacob but a few days, for the love he had to Rachel. But, according to the 
custom of that country, the younger daughter could not be given in marriage 




ISAAC BLESSING JACOB. 



20 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

before the elder, and so Laban gave his daughter Leah also, and both Leah 
and Rachel became the wives of Jacob, for Jacob lived in that far away time 
and country of the early world when men were allowed to take more than one 
wife, and when each man was both king and priest over his family and tribe, 
and worshipped God by offering burnt sacrifices upon an altar. 

After twenty years of work with Laban, in which he had earned many 
flocks and herds for himself, Jacob took his wives and the little sons God had 
sent him, and his flocks and herds, and started on a journey to his old home. 
Isaac was still alive, and Jacob longed to see him. He had lived long in 
Haran for fear of his brother Esau, and now he must travel through Edom, 
Esau's country, on his way to his old home. 

As he was on his way some of God's angels met him, and he was 
strengthened. Still he feared Esau, and sent some of his men to tell his 
brother that he was coming. 

The men came back, saying that Esau, with four hundred men, was 
coming to meet them. 

Poor Jacob ! He remembered the sin of his youth, when he had stolen 
the blessing from Esau, and he was afraid, and prayed God to protect him. 

He sent his servants again to meet Esau with great presents of flocks, 
and herds, and camels, and after placing his wives and little ones in the safest 
place, he sent all that he had over the brook Jabbok, and he stayed on the 
other side to pray. It was as if he wrestled with a man all night, and when 
the day began to break the man wished to go, but Jacob said: 

" I will not let thee go except thou bless me." 

So the man blessed him there, and call his name Israel; "for as a 
prince," he said, "hast thou power with God and with men, and hast pre- 
vailed." 

Then Jacob knew that the Lord Himself, in the form of a man, had been 
with him, and he had seen Him face to face. 

And as the sun rose he passed over the brook. When he looked up he 
saw Esau and his men coming, and when he had told his family to follow him, 
he went straight before them, for he was no longer afraid to meet his brother. 

Jacob's prayer had been answered, and Esau ran to meet his brother, and 
throwing his arms around him, wept on his shoulder. Then they talked in a 
loving and brotherly way, and Esau returned to his home with the presents 
Jacob had given him, and Jacob went on his way into Canaan full of joy and 
thankfulness. He stopped a little while in a pleasant place to rest his flocks 
and cattle, but he longed to see the place where he first saw the angels of 




JACOB AND RACHAEL. 



2 2 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

God, and heard the voice of the Lord blessing him, so they journeyed on to 
Beth-el, and there built an altar*and worshipped God. 

Again the Lord spoke to Jacob at Beth-el, and called him Israel, and 
blessed him. 

After they left Beth el, they came near to Bethlehem, where many hun- 
dred years afterward the Lord Jesus was born, and there another little son 
was born to Rachel, and there too God sent for her, and took her to Himself, 
and there her grave was made. 

The little boy was named Benjamin, and was the youngest of Jacob's 
twelve sons, who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the 
princes of a great nation. 

Jacob was almost home. His great family, with all the flocks and herds, 
had been long on the way, for they often spread their tents by the brooks in 
the green valleys, that the cattle might rest and find pasture, but at last the 
long caravan came slowly over the fields of Mamre to Hebron, and Isaac, 
whom the Lord had kept alive to see his son once more, was there in his tent 
waiting for him. 

But soon after this he died, an hundred and eighty years old, and Esau 
came, and the two brothers laid their father in the cave that Abraham bought 
when Sarah died, and where he had buried Rebekah, and Jacob became 
patriarch in place of his father. 



CHAPTER VI. 

JOSEPH, THE CASTAWAY. 

Of all the sons of Jacob, Joseph and Benjamin were the dearest to him, 
because they were the sons of his beloved Rachel, who had died on the 
journey from Syria into Canaan. They were also the youngest of all the 
twelve sons. When Joseph was about seventeen years old, he sometimes 
went with his elder brothers to keep his father's flocks in the fields. He 
wore a long coat striped with bright colors, which his father had given him, 
because he was a kind and obedient son, and could always be trusted. 

Once he told his father of some wicked thing his brothers had done, and 
they hated him for it, and could not speak pleasantly to him. 




MEETING OF JACOB AND ESAU. 



24 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Joseph had many strange and beautiful thoughts when he looked across 
the fields to the hills, and up into the starry sky at night. He also had some 
strange dreams that he told to his brothers. He said that he dreamed that 
they were binding sheaves in the field, and that his sheaf stood up, while the 
sheaves oi his brothers bowed down to it. 

Again he dreamed that the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars bowed 
down to him. 

His father wondered that he should have such thoughts, and reproached 
him saying, " Shall I and thy brethren indeed come and bow down ourselves 
to thee to the earth?" and his brothers said, 

"Shalt thou indeed rule over us?" and they hated him. 

When they were many miles from home with the flocks their father sent 
Joseph to see if all was well with them. It was a long journey, and when 
they saw the boy coming they did not go to meet him, and speak kindly to 
him, but they said, 

" Behold this dreamer is cometh. Let us slay him, and cast him into 
some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall 
see what will become of his dreams." 

But Reuben, the eldest, said, 

"Let us not kill him ; but cast him into this pit," hoping to take him out 
secretly, and send him to his father. 

So when Joseph came near, they robbed him of his coat of many colors, 
and cruelly cast him into a pit. After this they sat down to eat their bread, 
and looking up they saw a caravan coming. It was a company of Ishmaelites 
carrying costly spices down into Egypt to sell them. 

Then Judah said, 

" Why should we kill our brother ? Let us sell him to these Ishmaelites." 

Then there passed by some Midianite merchants, and who drew Joseph 
out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and 
he was carried down into Egypt. 

Reuben, when his brothers went back to their flocks, went to the pit to 
try to save Joseph, but he was not there, and Reuben cried out, 

" The child is not, and I, whither shall I go ?" 

The brothers who had been so cruel to Joseph brought his coat to their 
father, all stained with blood. They had themselves dipped it in the blood of 
a kid to deceive him, and he mourned long, and would not be comforted, for 
the beloved child that he believed had been torn in pieces by evil beasts. 



CHAPTER VII. 

JOSEPH, A SERVANT, A PRISONER, AND A SAINT. 

The king of Egypt, where Joseph was taken by the Ishmaelites, was called 
Pharaoh, and he had a captain of the guard named Potiphar, who bought 
Joseph for a house servant. Though he was the son of a Hebrew prince, 
Joseph did his work faithfully and wisely as a servant, and was soon made 
steward of the house, and was trusted with all that his master had, and the 
Lord made all that he did to prosper ; but the wife of Potiphar was a wicked 
woman, who persuaded her husband that Joseph was a bad man, and he was 
sent to prison. 

Even there Joseph won the hearts of all, until the keeper of the prison 
set him over the other prisoners, and trusted him as Potiphar had done. It 
was the Lord in Joseph who helped him to win the love and trust of those 
around him. 

Pharaoh sent two of his servants to prison because they had displeased 
him. 

One was his chief cook, and one was the chief butler, who always handed 
the wine cup to the king, and Joseph had the care of them. 

They each had a dream the same night, and were troubled because they 
could not understand them. Joseph asked them to tell him the dreams, for 
God knew what they meant. 

So the chief butler told Joseph that he saw a vine having three branches, 
and the branches budded and blossomed, and the blossoms changed into ripe 
grapes, and he took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and 
handed the cup to the king. 

Then Joseph said: "The three branches are three days. Within three 
days the king will take you out of prison, and you shall hand the king's cup 
to him as you used to do." 

Joseph also asked the butler, to think of him when he was again in the 
king's palace, and speak to the king to bring him out of prison, because he 
had been stolen from his own land, and he had done nothing wrong that 
he should be put in prison. 

Then the chief cook told his dream. He said that he dreamed that he 
carried three baskets on his head, one above another. 

(25) 



26 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

In the highest one was all kinds of cooked meats for Pharaoh, and the 
birds flew down and ate from the basket. 

"The three baskets are three days," said Joseph as he said to the butler, 
but he told the cook that in three days he would be put to death, and hanged 
on a tree, where the birds would eat his flesh. 

All this came true, for Pharaoh's birthday came, and he brought out the 
chief butler to serve at a birthday feast, but he hanged the chief cook. Yet 
the chief butler forgot Joseph, and did not speak to the king about him as he 
mi^ht have done. 

At the end of two long years, Pharaoh dreamed a dream. He thought 
he stood by the river of Egypt, and saw seven cows looking well kept and 
fat, came up out of the river. 

Behind them came seven other cows, looking thin and poorly fed, and 
the thin and poorly fed cows ate up the well-kept and fat ones. 

And Pharoah had a second dream. He thougfht he saw seven heads of 
wheat growing on one stalk — and they were all full of grain. After them 
came seven thin heads of wheat with no grain in them; and the seven bad 
heads of wheat ate up the seven good ones. 

In the morning Pharaoh was troubled about these dreams, and called 
for his wise men who worked magic for him, and they could tell him nothing. 

Then the chief butler standing near the king remembered Joseph, and 
told Pharaoh of the young Hebrew who had told the meaning of his dream, 
and that of the chief cook, and they had come to pass as he had said, so 
Pharaoh sent for Joseph and said to him : 

"I have heard that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it." 

Joseph answered the king humbly and wisely: 

"It is not in me," he said, "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of 
peace." 

When the king had told his dream Joseph said : 

"The dream is one," and then he showed him that the seven fat cows, 
and the seven full heads of wheat meant seven good years in the land of 
Egypt, when the harvests would be great ; and the seven lean cows, and 
the seven empty heads of wheat, meant seven years of famine, when the east 
winds should spoil the wheat, so there would be nothing to reap in time of 
harvest and the people would want bread. He told the king that he had 
better set a wise man over the land, who would attend to saving the grain 
during the seven good years, so that the people would have bread to eat in 
the seven years of famine. 




JOSEPH SOI.D INTO EGYPT. 



28 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

The king was greatly pleased with Joseph, and told him that God had 
taught him to interpret dreams, and had showed him things to come, and 
there could be no wiser man found to be set over the land. 

So he made Joseph a ruler over the whole land, and next to the king in 
all things. 

He put his own ring on his hand, and dressed him in the robes of a 
prince, and gave him an Egyptian name and an Egyptian wife, so that there 
was no one in all the land of Egypt so great as Joseph, except the king. 

He built storehouses in every city, and stored the grain, until it was like 
the sand of the sea, and could not be measured. 

In the years of plenty two sons were born to Joseph, Manasseh and 
Ephraim, and then the seven years of dearth began to come. When the 
people began to cry to the king for bread, he always said, — 

" Go to Joseph ; what he says to you do." 

And Joseph and his helpers began to open the storehouses, and sell 
wheat to the Egyptians, and to the people of all countries, for the famine was 
in all lands. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
JOSEPH THE SAVIOR OF HIS PEOPLE. 

The famine reached even to the fruitful land of Canaan, and Jacob, 
though rich in flocks and herds, began to need bread for his great family. 
So he sent his ten sons down into Egypt to buy wheat, keeping Benjamin, 
the youngest at home. 

When they came before the governor they bowed down to him with their 
faces to the ground. Joseph knew them, though he acted as if he did not, 
and remembered his dream of his brother's sheaves bowino- down to his 
sheaf. At first, bespoke roughly to them, and called them "spies." But 
they said that they were all one man's sons, and had come to buy food. 

Joseph still spoke roughly to them, not because he was angry, but be- 
cause he did not wish them to know him yet. His heart was full of love for 
them, and he was soon going to show them great kindness ; but when they 
told him that they had left an old father and a young brother at home, and 
one was dead, he still acted as if they did not tell the truth. 



JOSEPH— THE SAVIOR OF HIS PEOPLE. 29 

He said that to prove themselves true men one of them should go home 
and bring the youngest brother, and the others should be kept in prison un- 
til they returned ; and he put them all in prison. 

After three days, he said one might stay while the others took the wheat 
home to their families, but that they must surely come back and bring the 
boy with them. 

Then Reuben, who had tried to save Joseph from the pit long before, 
told his brothers that all this trouble had come upon them for their wicked- 
ness to their brother Joseph, and they said, to each other in their own lan- 
guage: 

" We are verily guilty concerning our brother; when he besought us, we 
would not hear, therefore is this distress come upon us." 

Joseph understood everything they said though they did not know it, for 
he had been talking to them through an interpreter, and they thought he was 
an Egyptian. Now his heart was so full that he had to go out of the room 
to weep. But he came back and chose Simeon to stay while the others went 
to Canaan to bring back Benjamin. 

They took the wheat that they had bought in bags, and went away ; but 
when they stopped at an inn to rest and feed their asses, one of the brothers 
opened his bag, and found the money that he had paid for the wheat in the 
top of his bag. Here was more trouble, and they were afraid. 

When they came home to their father they told him all that had hap- 
pened, and as they opened the bags, each one found his money. Jacob was 
deeply troubled ; for Joseph was gone, and Simeon was gone, and now they 
wanted to take Benjamin. 

Reuben who had two sons said: "Slay my two sons if I bring him 
not to thee." 

But Jacob said Benjamin should not go down to Egypt. But the wheat 
was gone in a short time, and they were likely to starve so great was the 
famine, and at last Jacob said they must go to Egypt again for food. 

Judah said they would go if Benjamin would go with them, but Jacob 
would not listen to this. He asked them why they told the man that they 
had a brother, and they replied, that the Governor had asked them it their 
father was yet living and if they had another brother. 

"Send the lad with me," said Judah, "if I bring him not unto thee, let 
me bear the blame forever " 

Then Jacob told them to take him and go, and also to take presents of 
honey, and spices, and balm, and nuts, and double the money, so as to 



30 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

return that which was put in their bags, and he blessed them, and sent them 
away. 

They went down into Egypt, and stood before Joseph again. When he 
saw Benjamin with them he told the steward of his house to make ready a 
fine dinner for them, and bring them to him at noon, and he did so. 

Then the brothers were afraid that they were all to be put in prison, and 
at the door of Joseph's house began to tell the steward how they found the 
money when they opened their bags, and that they had brought it back 
doubled; but the steward spoke kindly to them, and said that he had placed 
their money, and that they need not fear, for God had given it back to them. 

Then he brought Simeon out, and they made ready to dine with the 
Governor at noon, and to give him their presents. 

When he came they bowed down to him and presented their gifts, and 
he asked them if they were well, and if the old man of whom they spoke 
was still alive, and they replied that he was. When he saw Benjamin, and 
knew that he was truly his own brother, the son of Rachel, he said : 

"God be gracious unto thee my son," and he went quickly to his own 
chamber, lest he should weep before them. 

When he came out to them again, and they sat down to dine, he placed 
the sons of Jacob by themselves, and the Egyptians of his house by them- 
selves, and the brothers were placed according to their ages — Reuben at the 
head and Benjamin last, and they wondered among themselves at this. 
Joseph also sent portions from his own table to his brothers, but the portion 
of Benjamin was five times greater than that of the others. 

The next morning their wheat was measured to them, and the asses 
were loaded with it, and they went on their way, but Joseph had told the 
steward to put the money of each man in the top of his bag, and in Ben- 
jamin's to put his silver cup. 

When they were a little away from the city, the steward overtook them, 
and charged them with stealing his lord's silver cup. 

The men were so sure that no one of them had stolen the silver cup, that 
they said, 

" Let him die with whom the cup is found, and the rest of us will be your 
slaves." 

So everybody's bag was opened from the oldest to the youngest, and the 
cup was found in Benjamin's bag. Then they rent their clothes for grief, and 
loaded the asses and went back to the city , and when they came to Joseph's 




lii'Miiii'li' I _ 

lllifflllHlllBiaPilllllllllllinillllllllliiiiii mniiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ■ ■mil 



TOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BROTHERS. 



32 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

house, they fell on their faces before him, Joseph tried to speak sternly and 
said : 

"What deed is this you have done? " 

Judah said : 

" What shall we say unto my lord, or how shall we clear ourselves? We 
are my lord's servants. " 

Then said Joseph : 

"The man in whose hand the cup is found he shall be my servant, and as 
for you, get you up in peace unto your father." 

Then Judah came nearer to Joseph, and all his soul came forth into his 
voice as he said : 

" O, my lord, let thy servant speak a word in my lord's ears !" 

Then he told the story of their coming down into Egypt, and of the old 
father and young brother whom he had asked them about ; of the love of this 
father for the little one, for his mother, and his brother now dead. He re- 
minded Joseph that he had told them to bring the boy to him, and that they 
had said, that if the boy should leave his father, his father would die ; but the 
governor had said, " Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye 
shall see my face no more." 

Then Judah told the story of the father's grief when he found that he 
must let Benjamin go down into Egypt, that they might buy a little food ; how 
he spoke of his two sons, that were the sons of Rachel — that one had been 
torn in pieces, and now if mischief should befall the other, it would bring his 
gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. He asked Joseph what he should do when 
he returned to his father without the lad, seeing that his life was bound up in 
the lad's life, and Judah begged him, as he had made himself surety for the 
lad, to take him to be his slave, but to let Benjamin return to his father with 
his brothers, 

"For how shall I go up to my father," said Judah, " and the lad be not 
with me ? " 

Then Joseph could bear it no longer. He told all the Egyptians to go out 
of the room, and then weeping so that the Egyptians and the people in the 
king's house heard, he made himself known to his brothers. 

"I am Joseph, your brother," he said, "whom you sold into Egypt," and 
he begged them to come near to him. 

" Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves," he said, for he saw that they 
were terrified, "for God sent. me before you to save your lives by a great de- 



JOSEPH— THE SAVIOR OF HIS PEOPLE. 33 

liverance. It was not you that sent me hither, but God, and he hath made me 
a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." 

Then he told them to hasten and go to his father and tell him this, and 
ask him to come down at once, with all his flocks and herds, and dwell in 
Goshen, the best part of Egypt, for years of famine were yet to come. 

Then Joseph took little Benjamin in his arms and wept over him, and 
kissed him, and kissed all his brothers, and after that his brothers talked with 
him. The king heard the story of Joseph's brothers and was pleased. He 
told Joseph to send wagons for the wives and little ones of his brothers, and 
to tell them to bring their father, and all their cattle and sheep, and come to 
live in Goshen where they should have the best of the land for their flocks and 
herds. 

Joseph did as the king commanded, and also gave them food for the 
journey, and a suit of clothing to each brother, but to little Benjamin he gave 
five suits, and three hundred pieces of silver. He also loaded twenty asses 
with the good things of Egypt as presents to his father, so he sent them all 
on their journey saying : 

" See that ye fall not out by the way." 

When they came to Jacob in Hebron, they told him the wonderful story 
of the finding of Joseph, and his heart was faint, for he did not believe them ; 
but when he had heard all Joseph's messages, and had seen the gifts, and the 
wagons, he said : 

"It is enough: Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I 
die." 

So they began the long journey to Egypt, for it took a long time to travel 
with a great family, and with thousands of cattle and sheep. At Beersheba 
Jacob stopped and worshiped God, where his father had built an altar years 
before ; and God told him in the night that he need not fear to go down into 
Egypt, for He would there make him a great nation, and that He would bring 
him back again to his own land. 

So Jacob with all his children and their litde ones, and all his flocks and 
herds came into Egypt. There were sixty-seven souls, and when they had 
counted Joseph and his two sons, there were seventy. 

Jacob sent Judah on before to see Joseph and ask the way to Goshen, so 
that they might go directly there with the cattle and sheep. And when Joseph 
knew that his father was coming, he went to meet him in Goshen, and there 
he wept on his father's neck a long time, and Jacob said : 



34 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." 

After this Joseph presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh, and the king 
spoke very kindly to them, and gave them the best of the land for their flocks, 
and hired some of them to oversee his own shepherds. 

Joseph brought his father in also and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 

So the family of Jacob lived in peace, and were cared for by Joseph, just 
as the Lord had promised Jacob, when in a dream he saw the angels of God 
at Bethel, and heard above them the voice of the Lord blessing him, and 
saying : 

"Thou shalt spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the 
North, and to the South, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be 
blessed." 

Joseph carried all Egypt through the years of famine, and saved seed for 
the people to sow their fields in the seventh year so that they said : 

"Thou hast saved our lives." 

He afterwards visited his father, and Jacob made him promise that he 
would bury him when he died in the tomb of Abraham and Isaac, his father, 
in his own land. 

When Jacob was near his end, Joseph brought his two little sons, Eph- 
raim and Manasseh, to his bedside, and the old man gave them his blessing, 
laying his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the youngest, and his left 
hand on that of Manasseh the first born, even as Isaac had given the birth- 
right blessing to him instead of to Esau, and he said : 

" The angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads." 

Then he called all his sons together and told them what should befall them 
in the last days. To each one he spoke as a prophet speaks who has a vision of 
things to come, and he blessed them there. When he spoke to Judah, he told him 
that kings and lawgivers should arise from among his children until the 
Saviour of the world should come. 

Jacob was an hundred and forty-seven years old when he died, and there 
was great mourning for him. 

Joseph had the body of his father embalmed, as the Egyptians had the 
custom of doing, and after a long mourning in Egypt, Joseph and his brothers 
and many Egyptians who were Joseph's friends, carried the body of Jacob to 
Canaan, in a great procession, and buried him in the cave of Machpelah, where 
his fathers were buried. 

After they had returned to Egypt, the brothers of Joseph said : 



THE CRADLE THAT WAS ROCKED BY A RIVER. 35 

" Perhaps now he will hate us, and bring upon us all the evil we did to 
him." 

So they sent to him to ask his forgiveness for all that was past. Then 
Joseph wept, for he had nothing but love in his heart toward his brothers, and 
he wished them to trust him. He comforted them and spoke kindly to them, 
saying : 

" Fear not : ye meant evil unto me, but God meant it unto good. I will 
nourish you and your little ones." 

And so through all Joseph's life, and he lived one hundred and ten years, 
he was a tender father to all his family, and a wise ruler of the people, and 
he died after making his family promise to carry his body back into Canaan 
to be buried with his fathers when they themselves should go. 

"For God will surely visit you," he said, "and bring you out of this land into 
the land which he promised to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob." 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE CRADLE THAT WAS ROCKED BY A RIVER. 

After Joseph and all the sons of Jacob had grown old and had passed 
away, their children's children grew in numbers until they became a great 
multitude. 

The Pharaoh whom Joseph had served also died, and the king who fol- 
lowed him did not like the Hebrews. He feared them because they had 
grown to be strong, so he set overseers to watch them, and make them work 
like slaves. 

He treated them cruelly, and made them lift the great stones with which 
they built the tombs of the kings and temples of the gods. He also tried to 
kill all the little boys as soon as they were born, but the Lord took care of 
them. Also, the king told his servants, that wherever they found a baby boy 
among the Hebrews, to throw him into the river Nile, but the little girls, 
they should save alive. 

There was a man named Amrom, who, with his wife Jochebed, had a 
beautiful little boy whom they tenderly loved. They hid him as long as 
they could, and then when he was three months old and she could hide him 



36 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

no longer, she made up her mind to give him into the care of God. She 
made a little boat, or ark of stout rushes, that grew by the river. She 
wove it closer than a basket, and then covered it with pitch that the water 
might not enter, just as Noah covered the great ark before the flood. 

Then she wrapped her baby carefully and laid him in the little boat, and 
set it among the reeds at the edge of the river Nile. God and His angels 
watched the cradle of the child, and the river gently rocked it. Jochebed 
told the baby's sister to wait near by and see what might happen to him, and 
this is what happened, or rather what God prepared for the baby in the boat 
of rushes. 

The king's daughter came down to bathe in the river, and as her 
maidens walked up and down by the riverside, she called one of them to 
bring to her the little ark that she saw rocking on the river among the reeds. 
When she had opened it she saw a beautiful little child, and when it cried 
her heart was touched, and she longed to keep it for her own. 

"This is one of the Hebrew's children," she said, and as the baby's 
sister came near she asked the princess if she should go and get a nurse 
from among the Hebrew women to bring it up for her, and the princess said 
to her, "Go," and the maid went and called the child's mother. The prin- 
cess said : "Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee 
thy wages." 

And the mother took her baby joyfully though she hid her joy in her 
heart, and carried him home to nurse and bring up for Pharoah's daughter. 

And the child grew, and when he was old enough his mother took him 
to the king's palace, and he became the son of the princess. She called his 
name Moses, which means "drawn out," because she drew him out of the 
water. 




THE FINDING OF MOSFS. 



CHAPTER X. 

MOSES IN MIDIAN. 

Moses had teachers, and was taught all the learning of the Egyptians, 
but his heart was with his own people. He was grieved when he saw their 
burdens, and heard their cries when their taskmasters struck them. 

Once, when he was a grown man, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, 
and he struck the Egyptian and killed him, for he thought he ought to defend 
his people : and when he saw that the man was dead, he buried him in the 
sand. In a day or two Moses tried to make peace between two Hebrews 
who were fighting, and they answered him roughly, and one of them said : 

"Who made thee a ruler over us? wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the 
Egyptian yesterday ? " 

Then Moses was afraid, and when the king heard of it, and tried to take 
his life, Moses fled away out of Egypt, through a desert into Midian. There 
he found a well and sat down by it to rest. While he sat there the seven 
daughters of the priest of Midian came to draw water for their father's flocks, 
and some rough shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up 
and helped them, and watered their flocks. When their father knew that a 
noble stranger had been kind to his daughters, he asked him to come into his 
house, and eat bread with him, and stay as long as he would. So Moses 
stayed and Zipporah, one of the seven sisters, became his wife. 

But Moses did not forget his people. God was preparing him to lead 
them out of bondage, and he learned many things, during the years that he 
kept the sheep of his father-in-law in the wilderness. 

One day he led his flocks across the desert to Mount Horeb or Sinai. 
There he saw a bush all bright within as if it burned. He drew nearer to see 
why the bush was not consumed, and heard the voice of the Lord calling him. 
The Lord told him to come no nearer, and to put off his shoes, for he stood 
on holy ground. Then the Lord told him that He was the God of his fathers, 
and that He had heard the cry of his oppressed people in Egypt. 

"I know their sorrows," said the voice from the midst of the fire, "And 
I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to 
bring them up out of that land into a good land, and a large — unto a land 
flowing with milk and honey." 
(38) 



THE ROD THAT TROUBLED EGYPT. 39 

Then the Lord said that Moses must go to the new Pharaoh, for the old 
king was dead, and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses was a 
very humble man, and he could not believe that Pharaoh would listen to him^ 
or that the Hebrews would follow him, but the Lord said, 

" Certainly I will be with thee." 

And as a sign that it should be so, He said that after Moses had brought 
his people out of Egypt, they should serve God in this mountain. 

But Moses had many fears. He knew that he had been brought up as 
an Egyptian, and he feared that his people would not listen to his words. 

Then the Lord showed signs to Moses to help his faith. , 

He turned the rod in Moses' hand into a serpent, and then when he was 
afraid of it, the Lord told him to take it in his hand and it became a rod 
again. 

He also turned his hand white with leprosy, and then changed it again 
to natural flesh, and told Moses, that these, and other signs he should show 
in Egypt — to prove that he was sent of God. 

But Moses felt himself to be so weak and faithless as a leader of his peo- 
ple, that he still cried out that he was " slow of speech, and of a slow tongue," 
and when the Lord said, "I will teach thee what thou shalt say," he did not 
believe, but begged the Lord to send by whom he would, only not by him. 

Then the Lord said that Aaron, the brother of Moses could speak well, 
and that he should go with him to Pharoah and to his people, and should 
speak for him, but that the wisdom and power of God should be with Moses, 
and that he should do wonders with the rod in his hand. 



CHAPTER XI. 
THE ROD THAT TROUBLED EGYPT. 

So Moses took his wife and his sons and returned to Egypt, and the rod 
of God was in his hand ; and Aaron, sent of God, came to meet him in the 
wilderness, and there Moses told him all that was in his heart, and all that 
God had sent him to do. 

When they came into Egypt they gathered the Israelites together, and 
Aaron spoke to them, and they believed his words, and the signs that Moses 
showed them. 
3 



40 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Afterward, they went to Pharoah and gave him the message of the Lord, 
and Pharoah said : 

" I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go," 

And he began to oppress the Israelites more than he had ever done be- 
fore. They made bricks of clay mixed with straw, that hardened in the sun, 
and were as lasting as stone, but he forced them to find the straw wherever they 
could, and make as many bricks as before. This they did until no more straw 
could be found, and their Egyptian masters beat them cruelly because they 
failed to make the full number of bricks. Then they turned upon Moses and 
Aaron and said, that they had put a sword in the kings hand to slay them. 

Where could Moses turn except to the Lord who had sent him ? The 
Lord heard him and made to him again the great promise, as he did at the 
burning bush, and Moses told the people, but they could not believe it. for 
they were crushed under their cruel burdens. 

And now the Lord sent Moses and Aaron again to Pharoah, to show by 
sign and miracle, that their message was from Him. They took the rod that 
Moses brought from Mount Horeb, and Moses told Aaron to cast it down 
before the king, and it became a serpent. Pharoah called his wise men and 
wizards, and they did the same, only Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods, and 
Pharoah would not listen to their words. 

But in the morning when Pharoah walked by the river the two men stood 
by him and said again : 

The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee saying: 

"Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness," and then 
Aaron struck the waters of the river Nile with his rod, and the waters turned 
to blood. 

In all the land, in every stream and pond there was blood, so that the 
fishes died and no one could drink the water. 

But because the wizards could turn water to blood also, Pharoah's heart 
was hardened toward Moses and Aaron. 

While the people were digging wells for water, Aaron stretched forth 
his rod over the river again, and frogs came up from it, and spread over all 
the land and filled the houses of the people. This also the magicians did, but 
so great was the plague that the king said : 

"I will let the people go." 

" When shall I entreat for thee and for thy people to destroy the frogs 
from thee and thy houses?" said Moses; and Pharoah told him to do so the 
next day. 




THE ROD THAT TROUBI^ED EGYPT. 



42 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

So on the next day Moses prayed to the Lord that the frogs might go 
out of the land, and the Lord answered his prayer; but when Pharoah saw 
that the frogs had been destroyed his heart grew hard, and he would not 
listen to Moses and Aaron. 

Then another plague was brought upon the Eg}'ptians. The dust of the 
land was changed to lice that covered man and beast, and this was followed 
by swarms of flies that settled upon all the land except Goshen where the 
Israelites lived. 

Then Pharoah said: 

"Go, sacrifice to your God in this land," but they would not worship in 
Egypt, and Pharoah at last told them that they could go into the wilderness, 
but they must not go very far away. So Moses prayed, and the swarms of 
flies were swept out of Egypt, but Pharoah did not keep his word. 

Then a great sickness fell upon the cattle and sheep of the country, 
though the flocks and herds of the Israelites were free from it ; and this was 
followed by a breaking out of boils upon men and beasts everywhere, even 
upon the magicians, but Pharaoh's heart was still too wicked to yield to God. 

Then came a great storm of hail over Egypt, such as had never been 
known in that sunny land. It killed the cattle in the fields, and destroyed the 
grain that was grown, and broke the trees and herbs. The lightnings fell 
also and ran upon the ground, and when it was over the heart of Pharaoh 
was still hard against God. 

Then Moses told Pharaoh that the face of the earth would be covered 
with clouds of locusts that would eat every green thing left by the storm, if 
he did not let God's people go. This frightened Pharaoh's servants and they 
begged him to send them away, and though he would not let their wives and 
little ones go, he said: 

"Go now, ye that are men, for that ye did desire," and he drove them 
out of his presence. 

Then at the Lord's word, Moses arose and stretched forth his rod over 
Egypt, and the plague of locusts came, driven by the East wind, and covered 
the land until there was no green thing left in Egypt. 

Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron in great haste, and confessing 
his sin, begged to be forgiven and to be saved from, "this death only," and, 
at Moses' prayer, a mighty west wind drove the army of locusts into the 
Red Sea. 

But again the heart of Pharaoh turned against God, and the Lord brought 
thick darkness over the land for three days, only in the homes of the Hebrews 



THE ROD THAT TROUBLED EGYPT. ^ 43 

there was light. Then Pharaoh was wilHng to let them take their wives and 
their Httle ones, but not their flocks and herds, and because they would not 
leave them behind, Pharaoh drove Moses and Aaron from him in anger, saying : 

"See my face no more." 

But the Lord proposed to break the hard heart of Pharaoh. He told 
Moses to see that every Israelite should take a lamb from the flock and keep 
it four days. Then, at evening, he was to kill it, and dip a branch of hyssop 
in its blood, and strike it against the sides of his door, also over it, leaving 
three marks of blood there. Then he was to close his door and no one was 
to go out of it until morning. 

They were to roast the lamb and eat of it, and be ready for the journey 
they were to make, and it should be to them forever the feast called the 
Passover. They were to eat it with unleavened bread, and the feast should 
be kept forever from the first to the seventh day of the month, a holy feast to 
the Lord. 

And this is why it was called the feast of the F'^assover. At midnight, 
after the lamb was killed in each house of the Israelites, and the doors were 
shut, the Lord passed through the land, and wherever he saw the blood on 
the side posts and the top of the door, he passed over that house, and it was 
safe, but in every Egyptian house the first born died, from the child of Pharaoh 
who sat on the throne, to the child of the captive in the cell, and all the first 
born of cattle. 

The next morning a great cry went up from the land of Egypt, for there 
was not a house where there was not one dead. 

Then Pharaoh was quite ready to let the Israelites go. 

"Take all you have and be gone," he said. 

They were all ready, and rose up very gladly to join the great procession, 
led by Moses and Aaron, that gathered in Goshen, and started on its long 
journey toward the east. 

They had heard of the land of their fathers, and now they were going 
home to be slaves no more. They were a family of seventy souls when they 
came into Egypt, four hundred and thirty years before, and now they went 
out a great nation, as the Lord had promised when he blessed their fathers. 

The feast of the Passover has been the chief one held by the Israelites, 
from the time of their coming out of Egypt until now, and since Jesus held 
the Passover feast with his disciples on the night that he went forth to death, 
it has become to all Christians the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 



CHAPTER XII. 

FOLLOWING THE CLOUD. 

" God led the people," says the Word, as they came up out of Egypt. 
He gave them the two leaders by whom He had broken the power of Pharaoh, 
and set His people free, and He also set a great cloud in the air, just above 
and before them, to lead them in the right way. It was to them the presence 
of the Lord. By day it rose white and beautiful against the blue sky, and 
moved slowly before them. At night it stood still while they rested, and shed 
light over all the camp, for there seemed to be a fire within the cloud at night. 
How safe and happy they must have felt away from the cruel taskmasters of 
Egypt, and the Lord's presence, spreading a wing of cloud over them. They 
were not led by a straight way to Canaan, for a warlike people lived in the land 
which they must pass through, but they were led at first through a country 
without cities or armies, where they would not trouble many people or 
be troubled by them. They bore with them the embalmed body of Joseph, for 
they had promised to bury him with his fathers in the cave of Machpelah ; and 
they also had much wealth in herds, and flocks, and gold, and silver. Pha- 
raoh thought of this after they had gone, and his wicked heart grew harder 
than before, so he ordered his chariots and horsemen to follow them, and they 
found the Israelites camped by the Red Sea. 

Then there was great fear and mourning in the camp when they saw the 
army of Pharaoh coming, but Moses cried : 

" Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord 
shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." 

Then the Lord told Moses to speak to the people that they go forward. 
He also told him to lift up his rod and stretch his hand over the sea and 
divide it, and the children of Israel should go on dry ground through the midst 
of the sea. Night was falling, and the waters lay dark before them, but the 
angel of God, the pillar of cloud and fire, moved from its place before them 
and went behind them, while Moses and Aaron led them on. Then the pres- 
ence of the Lord was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave a 
light by night to the Israelites. A strong east wind drove the waters apart 
all night, so that there was a way through the sea, and the waters were a wall 
upon their right hand and on their left. Pharaoh's army saw the broad path 

(44) 



46 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

through the sea, and followed fast after the Israelites, but as morning dawned 
the Lord looked from the cloud and troubled the Egyptians. Their chariot 
wheels came off, and all went wrong with them. 

At last the Lord told Moses to stretch his hand forth over the sea, that 
the waters might come back upon the Egyptians, and he did so; and as the 
sun rose, the sea swallowed up the Egyptian host, and their bodies were cast 
upon the shore. There on the other side stood the great host of Israel, and 
saw the salvation of God, and they believed in Him, and in Moses His servant. 

Then a great shout went up from the host of Israel. Moses led them in 
a song of praise, and Miriam, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine, and the 
women followed her in dances as they answered in a chorus of praise: — 

" Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and 
the rider hath he thrown into the sea." 

Soon they took up their journey, the cloudy pillar going before. There 
was but little water by the way, and after three days of thirst, they came to the 
waters of Marah, but they were bitter, and the people cried to Moses, 

" What shall we drink ?" 

Then the Lord showed him a tree which he cast into the waters, and 
they were made pure and sweet. Soon after they came to Elim, where there 
were twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees, and there they rested. 

Again they took up their journey and passed through a desert land, 
where they could get no food, and again they complained to Moses because 
he had brought them into the wilderness to die. They did not yet believe 
that God could supply all their need. 

" I will rain bread from heaven for you," said the Lord to Moses. He 
was ready to provide, if they would only believe in Him and obey Him. 

Moses called them to come near before the Lord while Aaron should 
speak his word to them. As they came near and looked toward the wilder- 
ness where the cloud stood, the glory of the Lord shone out of it. The 
Lord had heard them speak harshly to Moses for bringing them into a de- 
sert to die, but he said, 

" At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with 
bread." 

And his word came true. Great flocks of quails came up and covered 
the camp at sunset, so that they caught them for food ; and in the morning 
the dew lay around them, and when it had risen, there lay on the ground a 
small, round, white thing, something like frost, or a little seed, and it tasted 
like wafers made with honey. The Lord told Moses that the people must 



FOLLOWING THE CLOUD. 47 

gather just enough to eat through the day, and no more. The morning be- 
fore the Sabbath they must gather enough for two days, for none would fall 
on the Sabbath. This was the bread that the heavenly Father provided for 
his children through all the years of their journey from Egypt to Canaan, and 
they called it " Manna." 

There were hard things to bear in the wilderness. Often when they 
wanted water for their little ones and their cattle, and could not find it, they 
were like fretful children when they were tired and thirsty. Once, at Horeb, 
Moses struck a rock with his wonderful rod, and water sprung out in a 
stream. 

There were enemies also in the way. The Amelikites came out to fight 
with the Israelites. The strong men went to meet the enemy, but Moses 
stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand, and Aaron and Hur were 
with him. While Moses held up the rod, Israel prevailed ; but when he let 
down his hand Amalek prevailed. 

But Moses grew tired and they placed a stone for him to sit upon, and 
Aaron and Hur held up his hands on either side until the going down of the 
sun, when Amalek was conquered. Moses built an altar there, and called it 
" The Lord my Banner." 

They were now drawing near the Mount, where Moses saw the burning 
bush, and heard the Lord calling him to be the leader of his people. 

They were far out of their way to Canaan, but it was in the Lord's pur- 
pose to bring them into obedience and faith before he brought them into the 
promised land. They had lived long among the Egyptians, and were very 
far from being like Jacob and Joseph, but there were good and true men like 
Aaron, and Joshua, and Hur, who helped Moses. It was about three months 
after the children of Israel left Egypt, that they came into the wilderness of 
Sinai. There the "Mount of God" still lifts its great granite cliffs toward the 
sky. There are high valleys midway where it is cooler than below, and there 
the people encamped and waited to hear what God would say to them, for 
God talked with Moses on the Mount. 

He said He had chosen them, if they would obey his voice, to be a holy 
nation. He told Moses to tell the people to be ready, and on the third day 
He would come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. 

And so it was, as the people looked there was a thick cloud upon the 
Mount, from which came thunder and lightning, and the sound of a great 
trumpet, while the mountain trembled as with an earthquake. Only Moses 
and Aaron could approach the holy Mount, and from it God gave to Moses 



48 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

the laws that the people were to live by, and Moses wrote them all down that 
he might read them to the people. A company of the Elders of Israel went 
up and saw the glory of God afar off, but God called Moses up into the Mount, 
and the cloud closed him round, while the Lord gave him the laws for a great 
nation, and the pattern of the tabernacle which He wished him to make for a 
church in the wilderness. 

Forty days and forty nights Moses was on the Mount with God, and then 
God gave him the ten great commandments written with his own hands on 
tablets of stone, that he might give them to the people. They were to be 
kept as the rules of life for all people in all times. 

Forty days and nights seemed a long time to the people camped around 
the Mount. Perhaps they thought Moses would never come back to lead them, 
for they began to think of the gods of Egypt, and asked Aaron to make one 
for them. So to please them he told them to bring him their gold ornaments, 
and he melted them and made a golden calf such as the Egyptians worshiped, 
and before it they made an altar, and they worshiped the calf. 

The Lord who sees all things told Moses to go down to the people for 
they were worshiping an idol. So Moses went down a little way and met 
Joshua, and they both went down and saw the people feasting, and singing, 
and dancing, and Moses cast the tablets of stone upon the ground and they 
were broken. The heart of Moses, too, was almost broken, but he destroyed 
the golden calf, and punished the people for their great sin, and then went up 
to the Mount to plead for the life of his people. 

" O this people have sinned a great sin," he cried, "and have made them 
gods of gold, yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray 
thee, out of the book which thou has written," so great was the love of Moses 
for his people. 

There was a time of repentance among the people after this, and Moses 
and his servant Joshua reared a tent outside the camp and called it the Tab- 
ernacle of the congregation. It was for worship until the true Tabernacle 
should be built according to the pattern given in the Mount. All who sought 
the Lord went to worship there, and the pillar of cloud came and stood at the 
Tabernacle door while Moses talked with God, and all the people saw it and 
worshiped. 

Moses prayed again for the people, and the Lord said : 

" My presences shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." 

The Lord called Moses again into the mount, and told him to bring with 




MOSES DESCENDING FROM THE MOUNT. 



so CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

him two tablets of stofte and He would again write the ten commandments 
upon them. 

So Moses hewed them from the rock and took them up into Mount Sinai. 
Then the Lord came down again in a thick cloud and talked with Moses, and 
wrote upon the tablets of stone. 

After forty days Moses came down to the people bringing the command- 
ments with him, but his face shone with a strange light that the people never 
saw before, and they were afraid of him. It was something above the light 
of the sun, for Moses had seen the Glory of the Lord. 

While they still camped around the mount they began to build the 
Tabernacle. Moses told the people to bring gold, and silver, and brass, and 
wood. They also brought precious stones, and oil for the lamp, and fine 
linen, and they gave so willingly that at last Moses told them that there was 
more than enough. 

These were put in the hands of two wise men whom the Lord had chosen 
and taught to do the work, and they had willing helpers among the people, 
for wise hearted women did spin with their own hands, and bring what they 
had spun, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen to make the hang- 
ings of the Tabernacle. 

If you would know all the beautiful and costly and curious things that 
were made for this church in the wilderness, you will find them described in 
the last chapters of Exodus. 

The Israelites camped a long time in the high valleys around the Mount 
of God, and at last set up the Tabernacle. It was so made that it could be 
taken down and carried with them when they journeyed, for it was a beautiful 
tent. Over it the pillar of cloud stood. Whenever it moved the people 
followed, and when it stood still, they rested. Within the Tabernacle they 
placed a beautiful chest of wood overlaid with gold, which ever after held their 
most precious things, the tablets of stone written upon by the Lord himself. 

This "Ark of Testimony," as it was called, had rings at the sides through 
which men laid strong rods by which to carry it, and so had the golden table 
for bread, and the golden altar of incense. There was a beautiful seven- 
branched candlestick of pure gold in which olive oil was burned for a sacred 
sign, and there was a brazen altar for burnt offerings, and a great brazen bowl 
for washing, and other things to be used in the worship of the Sanctuary. 

There were beautiful garments, also, for the priests, Aaron and his sons, 
and for Aaron there was a wonderful breast-plate of gold set with twelve 
precious stones, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 



FOLLOWING THE CLOUD. 51 

When all was finished, and the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud that 
veiled the presence of the Lord came and covered it, and the glory of the 
Lord filled it, so that Moses could not enter ; but the Lord spoke to him from 
the cloud, and told him how the priests should order the worship of the Lord 
there. 

Afterward, Aaron and his sons offered burnt offerings for their sins, and 
the sins of the people, in the way the Lord had commanded, and fire from 
the Lord came down and consumed the offering. 

When the people saw the answer of the Lord they fell on their faces 
before him. 

In the second month of the second year the cloud rose from over the 
Tabernacle, and then the people knew it was time to go on their Journey. 
So they took down the tent of the Tabernacle and put all things in order for 
the journey. Each of the twelve tribes descended from the twelve sons of 
Jacob marched by themselves, carrying banners, and having captains. In the 
midst of them all marched the Levites carrying the Ark and the different parts 
of the Tabernacle, and when the cloud stood still, they stopped and set up 
the Tabernacle, while the people formed their camp all around it in the order 
of their tribes. 

Still the manna fell with the dew at night, and the people gathered it in 
the morning, and when they tired of it, the Lord sent them quails again. 

Over and over the people complained and rebelled, but the Angel of the 
Lord's Presence still hovered over them, and led them toward the promised 
land. Forty years they were on the journey that was so easily made by the 
sons of Jacob when they went back and forth to buy wheat in the time of 
famine ; and forty-two times did they encamp on the way, yet the mercy of 
the Lord never failed them, and they were brought into their own land at last. 
Then the cloud was no longer needed to go before them, but long after, when 
they built a beautiful temple at Jerusalem in which to put the sacred Ark of 
Testimony, the cloud came again and filled the temple with the glory of the 
Lord. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IN THE BORDERS OF CANAAN. 

While the host of Israel was in camp at Paran, the Lord told Moses to 
send men before them into Canaan to spy out the land. 

So he sent twelve men who walked through the land and saw the people, 
and the cities and the fields and the fruits. They were forty days searching 
the land and they brought from the brook Eschol a cluster of grapes so 
large that two of them bore it on a staff between them. They also brought 
some pomegranates and figs. 

When they came into the camp they said that the country where they 
had been was good, and flowing with milk and honey, but the people were 
strong, and the cities had very high walls. They said they saw giants there. 

Caleb, who was one of the twelve, and a good and true man, said : 

" Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it," 
but the men who were with him were afraid of the giants, and said they felt 
like grasshoppers before them. Then there was great weeping among the 
people all that night, and they said, 

"Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Moses and 
Aaron were greatly troubled, but the two good men, Caleb and Joshua, stood 
up and encouraged the people, saying that they need not fear, for the Lord 
had given them the land, yet they were ready to stone Caleb and Joshua. 

Then the Lord spake to Moses from the Tabernacle, and the people saw 
his glory. He said the people were unbelieving and disobedient, and for this 
reason they could not enter the promised land. He said, that all who were 
twenty years old and upward would die in the wilderness, except Caleb and 
Joshua, who had followed the Lord wholly. He also said that the people 
would be forty years in the wilderness, and only the youth and the children 
would live to enter Canaan. 

There was mourning and repentance then because of the word of the 
Lord, and the people promised again to believe and obey, but over and over 
they lost faith and rebelled, and great storms of trouble fell upon them. 

Once the earth opened and many were swallowed up ; a sudden sickness 
destroyed thousands. Near Mount Hor, where Aaron died, fiery serpents 

ran among the people, and all who were bitten by them died ; but there was 

(52) 




THE RETURN OF THE SPIES. 



54 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

full forgiveness and cure for those who turned to the Lord. When the fiery 
serpents entered the camp Moses lifted a brazen image of a serpent up on a 
pole so high that it could be seen all over the camp, and whoever looked upon 
it lived. It was a sign of the coming Saviour. 

Between the marches and the battles with heathen tribes, some of whom 
were giants, Moses wrote in a book the laws that God gave him for the 
government of the people. They were wise laws, the keeping of which 
would bring health, peace and blessedness to the people. He gave the book 
to the Levites who carried the Ark, and they were to keep it always beside 
the Ark, and often read it aloud to the people. 

Moses said many things to the people, and as Jacob blessed his twelve 
sons, so Moses blessed each of the twelve tribes that descended from them, 

• 

for he wa.s near the end of his long life. The Lord had told him that He 
should take him to Himself before the people entered Canaan, and that 
Joshua must lead the people into the promised land. So when they had 
reached the borders of Canaan, and were encamped near the Jordan, the 
Lord called his tried servant up into Mount Nebo, that he might see the land 
beyond the Jordan, where the twelve tribes were to find their promised home. 
Then the Lord gave him a view of the land, and there he died, as Aaron died 
on Mount Hor. 

No one saw Moses die, and no one knows where he was buried, for the 
Lord buried him. He was one hundred and twenty years old, and yet as 
strong as a young man After his death Joshua became the leader of Israel. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A NATION THAT WAS BORN IN A DAY. 

The time had come for the people to cross the river Jordan, and enter 
their own land, and the Lord told Joshua to prepare the people for their last 
journey before going over Jordan. Joshua first sent two men over the river 
to see the land. 

They went to the walled city of Jericho, and to the house of a woman 
named Rahab. The king heard that they were there and sent for them, but 
the woman hid them under the flax that she was drying on the roof of her 




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56 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

house. Afterward she let them down by a rope through a window (for her 
house was built on the town wall), and they escaped. They promised Rahab 
before they went, that if she would hang a long line of scarlet thread from the 
window on the wall, that when they came to take the city she should be saved 
and all her family because of her kindness to them. 

After they had returned to the camp they told Joshua that the Lord 
would surely give them the land, for the people were afraid of them. Then 
they rose up and marched to the banks of the Jordan and waited for Joshua 
to lead them over. Some of them remembered how they had passed through 
the Red Sea, and others had heard it from their parents, and they now waited 
to see the salvation of God. Joshua told them to follow the priests, and the 
Levites who would bear the Ark of the Covenant, so when Joshua said : 

"Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth 
over before you into Jordan," the people followed. 

The Jordan lay spread before them like a lake, for it was the time of year 
when it overflowed all its banks, but when the feet of the priests who bore the 
Ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters from above stopped 
and rose like a wall, while the waters below flowed away into the Dead Sea, 
and left a wide path for the people to walk in, and the Ark stood still in Jordan 
until every one had passed over. Then twelve men, one out of every tribe, 
took a stone from the bed of the river and carried it over for a memorial 
altar, so that when any should ask in years to come, "What do these stones 
mean ?" someone might tell them how the Lord led Israel through Jordan 
into their own land. 

After the Ark had come up from the bed of Jordan, and there was not 
one of all the thousands of Israel left behind, the waters came down from the 
place where they had stayed, and flowed down into the Dead Sea, and over- 
flowed the banks of Jordan as before. 

The stones were heaped in Gilgal where they camped, and directly be- 
fore them rose the walls of Jericho, and here they kept the passover. For 
forty years they had been fed with manna from heaven as they camped or 
journeyed in the wilderness, but now they began to eat the grain and the 
fruits of the land, and the manna fell no more. 

Nearly five hundred years before the family of Jacob left this land to go 
down into Egypt where Joseph was. They grew to be a great people, but 
they were slaves. Then the Lord sent Moses to make them free, and they 
began the long journey, which at last brought them to their own land. 



A NATION THAT WAS BORN IN A DAY. 57 

Forty years they were on the journey, and all this time they were pil- 
grims, but on the day that the Jordan ceased to flow, and parted while they 
passed over into the land promised to their fathers, thjpy became a nation. 

The land was before them, and they had only to obey the Lord and his 
servant Joshua to conquer and possess it. 

As they filled the valley of the Jordan before Jericho, the hearts of the 
heathen fainted for fear, for they knew that only the Lord could divide a river 
to let his people pass. 

Joshua went out of the camp to look at Jericho, the walled city. It was 
shut up for fear of the Israelites, and there was no one to be seen. 

Suddenly Joshua saw a warrior standing with a drawn sword in his hand. 

"Art thou for us," said Joshua, "or for our adversaries?" and the 
warrior angel answered, 

" Nay ! but as Captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come," and 
Joshua fell on his face before him. 

He knew then that it was the Lord who would conquer Jericho, and he 
was told how the people were to help him. 

So Joshua called the priests, and told them to take up the Ark, and he 
told seven priests to go before it bearing trumpets of rams' horns. Then the 
army of Israel, ready for war, followed, half of them marching before the 
Ark, and half of them coming after, and as the trumpets gave a great sound, 
they marched once around the city, and then went to camp. This they did 
once every day for seven days, but on the seventh day they marched around 
the city seven times, and as the priests blew the trumpets for the last time, 
Joshua cried with a mighty voice, 

" Shout ! for the Lord hath given you the city." 

Then as a great shout went up from the people, the walls of the city fell 
down flat, so that the soldiers of Israel went up, every man straight before 
him, and took Jericho, 

And Rahab was not forgotten. The Lord cared for her little house on 
the wall, and she, with all her family, were brought into the Camp of Israel. 

And so by the conquest of Jericho the new nation of Israel began to 
possess its land. 



CHAPTER XV. 
SAMSON THE STRONG. 

All the days of Joshua — and he lived to be an hundred and ten years 
old — the Israelites were conquering the people who lived in Canaan, and 
dividing it among the tribes. Joshua was a father to them, as Moses had 
been, and when at last they were at rest, each tribe within its own borders, 
and they had begun to build their houses, and plant their fields, Joshua spoke 
words of loving counsel to the people, and they set up a stone under an oak 
tree, as a sign that they would always serve the Lord and keep the law, and 
then he went to be with God. After his death Israel was ruled by wise men 
called judges, who helped them to conquer the land little by little. Some of 
them were good men and brave warriors as Othniel and Gideon and Jephthah^ 
and one was a prophetess named Deborah, a noble mother in Israel, and one 
was a mighty man of strength, Samson, the son of Manoah. 

The people of Israel had turned away from the Lord, and could no 
longer conquer their enemies, but the Philistines had conquered them, and 
had been their masters for forty years, when the Lord sent Samson to deliver 
them. He was not a wise man like Moses or Joshua, but he had great 
strength, and the Lord used him against the Philistines. 

Once a young lion came roaring against him, and he caught it and rent 
it in two, as if it had been a kid. When he passed the same way afterward 
he saw that the bees had built a nest in the body of the lion, and it was full 
of honey At his marriage feast — for he married a Philistine woman — he 
made a riddle for the young men to guess : 

"Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong, come forth 
sweetness." 

They tried for seven days to guess the riddle, but they could not, and 
then they told Samson's wife to find it out for them, or they would burn her 
house. She begged him with tears to tell her, and at last he told her of the 
honey comb in the body of the lion, and she told the young men, so that at 
the end of the seventh day they said to Samson, 

" What is sweeter than honey ?" and " what is stronger than a lion ?" 

He saw that he had been betrayed, so he paid his debt, a suit of clothes 
to each guest, and went home to his father's house. Afterwards when he 
(58) 



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THK YOUNG SAMSON. 



6o CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

found that his wife had been given to another he tied firebrands to the tails 
of three hundred foxes, and sent them among the wheat fields of the Philistines 
so that the fields were set on fire. 

Once the men of Gaza tried to kill him when he was within their city, 
but he rose at midnight and took the city gates, with its posts and bar, and 
carried them away on his shoulders to the top of the hill. Again the Philistine 
lords had promised a great deal of money to a woman, if she would get 
Samson to tell her what made him so strong, so she begged him to tell her. 
Three times she thought she knew the secret, and told the Philistines, but 
they could not bind him. At last he was tired of her questions, and said to 
her plainly — that from a child no razor had ever touched his hair. If it should 
be cut he would be as weak as other men. Then she watched and cut his 
hair while he slept, and the Philistines bound him and carried him to Gaza, 
where they made him blind, and forced him to grind in the mills of a prison 
house. The Philistines were glad because Samson was their prisoner at last, 
and so they came together in a great feast to sacrifice to their god Dagon, for 
they said, 

"Our god has delivered Samson into our hands." While they were 
merry they said: 

" Let us send for Samson to make sport for us," and he was brought 
out of the prison. It was very sad to see the strong judge of Israel, weak and 
blind, led by a little lad, and making sport for the people in front of their 
temple. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and upon the broad roof 
of the temple were about three thousand people watching Samson while he 
showed his strength, for his hair had grown and his strength was returning. 
At last as he was standing between two great pillars that held up the roof, 
he prayed, lifting his sightless eyes to God : 

" O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me only this 
once." 

Then he clasped his arms around the pillars on either side of him, and 
bowing himself with all his might, saying, 

" Let me die with the Philistines," he drew the great pillars with him, 
and the house fell with all that were upon it, on all that were within it. So 
died Samson who judged Israel twenty years, yet a woman, Deborah, who 
was also one of the judges in Israel, was stronger than he, for the Lord 
looketh on the heart. 




THE DEATH OF SAMSON. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

RUTH. 

In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, there was a famine in the 
land, and an Israelite, who lived in Bethlehem, took his wife and his two sons 
into Moab where there was food. After a while the Israelite died, and the 
two sons married women of Moab. 

After two years the sons died also, and their mother, Naomi, longed for 
her home in Bethlehem, for there was no longer a famine there. So she took 
Ruth and Orpah, her sons' wives, and started on the journey into the land of 
Israel. 

But before they had gone far Naomi said : 

" Go ! return each to her mother's house; the Lord deal kindly with you, 
as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me." 

She kissed them, and they wept and would not leave her. 

"Turn again, my daughters," she said, "why will ye go with me?" 

And Orpah kissed Naomi, and went back to her own mothers' house, but 
Ruth, whose heart was with Naomi, would not go back. 

"Entreat me not to leave thee," she said, "or to return from following 
after thee, for where thou goest I will go ; and where thou lodgest I will 
lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest 
I will die, and there will I be buried ; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if 
aught but death part thee and me." 

And so they came to Bethlehem, and the old friends of Naomi greeted 
her tenderly, and welcomed her back. It was about the beginning of the 
barley harvest. 

There was a good and great man in Bethlehem named Boaz, and he was 
of the family of Naomi's husband. He had a field of barley where the 
reapers were at work, and Ruth asked Naomi if she should not go and glean 
after the reapers, to get grain, for they were poor. 

Naomi said, "Go, my daughter," and she went. 

When Boaz came out of the town into his field and greeted his reapers, 
he said to his servant having charge of the reapers, 

"What maiden is this ?" and he told him that she was the Moabitish girl 

who had come back with her mother-in-law Naomi. 

(62) 




RUTH GLEANING. 



64 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Then Boaz spoke very kindly to Ruth, and told her to stay with his 
maidens, and freely drink of the water drawn for them, and Ruth bowed be- 
fore him and asked why he should be so kind to a stranger. He told her that 
he knew all her kindness to her mother-in-law since the death of her husband, 
and how she had left her own family and country to come among strangers, 
and he blessed her, saying, 

" A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose 
wings thou art come to trust." 

Then he told her to sit down and eat bread with them, and he helped her 
to the parched corn with his own hands, and when they returned to work he 
told his yDung men to let her glean among the sheaves and reprove her not, 
and to let some handfuls fall purposely for her to glean. When Ruth went 
home Naomi said, 

"Where hast thou gleaned to-day?" and Ruth told her. Then Naomi 
blessed Boaz, and told Ruth that he was one of their near relatives. 

And so Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz through all the barley and the 
wheat harvest. When all the reaping was done, the grain was threshed on a 
piece of ground made very smooth and level. The sheaves were beaten, and 
then the straw was taken away, and the grain and chaff below it was win- 
nowed. By this the chaff was blown away and only the grain was left. 

When Boaz winnowed his barley Naomi told Ruth to go down to his 
threshing floor and see him for he had a feast for his friends. 

So after the feast Ruth came near to him and said, 

"Thou art our near kinsman," and Boaz said, 

" May the Lord bless thee my daughter," and with many kind words he 
gave her six measures of barley to take to Naomi. 

Boaz remembered that it was the custom in Israel for the nearest 
relative of a man who had died, to take care of the wife who was left, and so 

4 

he went to the gate of Bethlehem where the rulers met to hold their court, 
and spoke to the elders and chief men about Ruth. He also wished them to 
be witnesses that he was going to take Ruth to be his wife. Then the rulers 
all said, 

" We are witnesses," and they prayed that God would bless Ruth and 
make Boaz still richer and greater. 

So Ruth became the honored and beloved wife of Boaz, and they had a 
son named Obed. 

Obed grew up and had a son named Jesse; and Jesse was the father of 
David, King of Israel, who was first a shepherd lad of Bethlehem. 




RUTH AND NAOMI. 



66 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

More than a thousand years after Ruth lived there was born in Bethle- 
hem, of the family of Boaz and Ruth, a little Child, who came, to be the 
Saviour of the world, and the shepherds in the fields, where, perhaps, Ruth 
gleaned, and David kept his sheep, heard the angels tell the good news and 

sing 

" Peace on earth, good will to men." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SAMUEL THE CHILD OF THE TEMPLE. 

The Tabernacle that was built in the wilderness, and was brought into 
Canaan by the priests was set up at Shiloh in the very centre of the land of 
Canaan, and once every year the tribes came to it to worship and offer 
sacrifices. After it had come to Shiloh to stay it was called the temple. 

When Eli was high priest a man named Elkanah came up from Ramah 
to worship, and Hannah his wife went with him. She was a good woman, 
and very sorrowful, because she saw other wives with sons and daughters 
around them, and she had none. Her husband was loving and kind and said: 
"Am I not better to thee than ten sons?" but she prayed to God for a son. 
While she was at Shiloh she prayed in the temple, and Eli saw her lips move, 
though he heard no voice. At first he spoke harshly to her, thinking she had 
been drinking wine, but she told him that she had not taken wine, but was 
praying. 

"I am a woman of sorrowful spirit," she said, "and have poured out my 
soul before the Lord." Then Eli blessed her and said : 

" Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee the prayer that thou hast 
asked of him." Then Hannah was no longer sad. 

Her prayer was answered, and the Lord sent her a little son, and when 
he was old enough, she took him to the temple, for she had promised the 
Lord that the child should be His. So Elkanah came bringing sacrifices, and the 
young child was with them. Hannah told Eli that she was the woman whom 
he saw praying in the temple. 

,, For the child I prayed," she said, "and the Lord has answered my 
prayer. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall 



WS^^^/StmiSSu 




THE CHILD OF THE TEMPLE. 



68 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

be lent to the Lord." Eli was very glad and gave thanks to the Lord, and 
took the little boy to help him in the service of the temple. Every year his 
father and mother came to bring offerings to the Lord, and his mother always 
brought him a little coat which she had made. 

Over it was a linen garment called an ephod, such as the priests wore. 
Eli was an old man, and his sons, though they were priests, were not good 
men, and he believed the Lord had sent him one who would be good, so he 
loved little Samuel as if he were his own. 

One night when Eli was laid down to sleep, and Samuel also, while the 
light was still burning in the golden candlestick before the Ark, Samuel heard 
a voice calling him, and he answered, " Here am I," and ran to see what Eli 
wanted. But Eli said that he had not called, and Samuel lay down again. 
When the voice called again, Samuel went again to Eli's bed, but Eli 
told him to lie down again, for he had not called him. When the voice called 
the third time, Samuel said: " Here am I, for thou didst call me." 

Then Eli told the boy to lie down once more, but if he heard the voice 
again to say, 

"Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth." 

And when the voice called again, " Samuel, Samuel," the boy answered, 

"Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth." 

Then the Lord told Samuel that the sons of Eli had become very 
wicked, and their father had not kept them from the evil, and therefore He 
could not accept their offerings. 

When Eli asked Samuel what the Lord had said to him, the boy told him all 
and hid nothing from him, and Eli bowed his spirit before the Lord, and said: 

"It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good." 

After this all the people of Israel knew that the Lord had called Samuel 
to be a prophet. And as he grew up the Lord was with him, and he was a 
judge over his people all his life. 

As for Eli and his sons, the word of the Lord soon came true. When 
the Philistines came against the Israelites in battle, the Elders of Israel said : 
" Let us bring the Ark of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that it may save us out 
of the hand of our enemies." And so they took it from the holy place to the 
camp of Israel. Then the Philistines fell upon the camp and scattered the men 
of Israel. They also took the Ark of God, and the two sons of Eli were 
among the thousands slain. 

Eli, who trembled for the Ark of God, sat outside the city gate, by the 
wayside watching. He was nearly a hundred years old, and his eyes were 



THE MAKING OF A KING. 69 

dim, but when a messenger came with the bad news, he fell backward in his 
seat and died. His heart was broken. 

Where was Samuel ? Perhaps he was praying in the temple for the 
return of the Ark of the Covenant. 

Wherever the Ark went among the Philistines, there went also trouble 
and death. When they put it in the temple of their fish-god Dagon, the 
great idol fell down before it and was broken. And when it was taken to 
another city, the people were smitten with sickness, until at last the Phili- 
stines said : 

"Send away the Ark of the God of Israel, and let it go to its own place." 

After seven months they sent it with gifts of gold to the Israelites. They 
placed it on a new cart drawn by two cows, and the cows, guided by the Lord 
alone, took a straight way into the land of Israel. How glad the people were 
when they looked up from their reaping in the fields, and saw the Ark coming 
safely back to them. The Philistines watched it from afar to see if it would 
be guided of God to its own place or not and then they returned to their city. 

Samuel gathered the people to the Lord after this, and though they had 
sinned greatly, and had gone after the gods of the heathen around them, they 
repented and returned to the faith of their fathers, and were faithful all the 
days of Samuel. He went from year to year on a journey to three cities of 
Israel, and judged the people in those places, but his home was in Ramah, 
the city where he was born, and where Hannah had brought him up for the 
Lord. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
THE MAKING OF A KING. 

When Samuel was old he made his sons judges in his place, but they 
were not holy men like their father. 

They loved money, and would judge unjustly, if money were given to 
them as a bribe. So the people came to Samuel at Ramah and said, 

" Give us a king to judge us." 

And Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him to do as the 
people had asked him to do, for they had not rejected him as judge, but the 
Lord as their King, and now they must learn what kind of a king would reign 



70 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

over them. So Samuel told them what they must be ready to do for their 
King, for a king was often a hard master, and ruled his people cruelly, 
taking the best of their fields, and their harvests, and their flocks for them- 
selves, and the finest of their sons and daughters to be his servants ; but they 
said, 

" We will have a king over us, that we may be like other nations, and 
that our king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles." 

When Samuel told these things to the Lord he said, "Make them a 
king," and Samuel sent the people to their own cities. 

Samuel did not choose a king for the people himself, but he waited for 
the Lord to send him the man He had chosen, and the Lord said to him as 
he went to a city called Zeph, to hold a sacrifice, 

" To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man from the land of 
Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel." 

On the next day as Samuel came out to go up to the hill of sacrifice he 
met a tall, noble looking young man, who, with his servant, was looking for 
the lost asses of his father, Kish, the Benjaminite. He had come far, and 
had heard that Samuel, the seer was in that place, and he hoped he would 
tell him where to go for the asses that were lost. 

Samuel knew from the Lord that this was the man God had chosen, so 
he told him to go up with him to the sacrifice, and the next day he would let 
him go. 

He told him that he need not be troubled about the asses, for they were 
found, but the desire of Israel was set upon him. Saul, for that was his 
name, did not understand him until he was invited to feast with thirty of the 
chief men, and Samuel had talked with him upon the house-top. Early the 
next morning they both rose and went out of the city, and while Saul sent his 
servant on before, Samuel anointed Saul with oil, and kissed him saying, that 
the Lord had anointed him to be Captain over his inheritance. 

As a sign that the Lord had done it, he told Saul three things that would 
happen to him on the way home, and charged him to go to Gilgal, where he 
would meet him and sacrifice to the Lord for seven days. As Saul turned 
to leave the prophet, God gave him another heart, and all the signs came to 
pass that day. 

At Mizpah Samuel called all the tribes together, that the man who was 
to be their king, might be chosen in their sight, and when Saul, the son of 
Kish, the Benjaminite was chosen he could not be found; he had hidden from 
the people ; but when they brought him out before them, he was taller than 




THE SHEPHERD BOY OF BETHLEHEM. 



72 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

any of the people from his shoulders up, and looked a king indeed. For the 
first time in all their history they cried, 

" God save the King ! " 

Then Saul went home, and there went with him a body of men whose 
hearts God had touched, while Samuel wrote in a book the order of the 
kingdom and laid it up before the Lord. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SHEPHERD BOY OF BETHLEHEM. 

After Saul had been king of Israel for a few years, Samuel was deeply 
troubled about him, for he had hoped that he would be as truly a king as he 
looked, but he had a strange and wilful spirit that led him to turn away from 
the counsel of the Lord and follow his own way. 

Samuel had been grieved again and again by Saul's rashness, until at 
last he said to him when he had taken the spoil of the enemy to sacrifice to 
the Lord, 

"To obey is better than sacrifice ; because thou hast rejected the word 
of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king," and he went to 
his house and mourned over Saul, for he had loved him. 

At last the Lord told Samuel to cease from mourning for Saul, for He 
had rejected him, but to fill his horn with oil, and go to Bethlehem where 
Jesse lived, for He had chosen one of the sons of Jesse to be king in place of 

Saul. 

Samuel went to Bethlehem leading a heifer, as the Lord had told him to 
do, that he might hold a sacrifice. He told the elders of the city to make 
ready for the sacrifice, and when he had found the house of Jesse, he called 
him and his sons. Jesse was the grandson of Ruth and Boaz, and owned the 
fields, no doubt, where Ruth gleaned. When Samuel saw Eliab, the son of 
Jesse, he said : 

"Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him," but the Lord said : 

" Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because 
I have refused him, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on 
the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 

Then Jesse called Abinidab, but Samuel said : 



THE SHEPHERD BOY OF BETHLEHEM. 73 

"The Lord hath not chosen this." Then he made Shammah to pass 
before him, but Samuel said : 

" Neither hath the Lord chosen this." 

Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, but Samuel said : 

"The Lord hath not chosen these." 

"Are here all thy children ?" said Samuel. 

"There remaineth yet the youngest, and he keepeth the sheep," Jesse 
replied. Then Samuel said: 

"Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither." 

So Jesse sent out into the sheepfolds on the hillsides outside the city to 
bring the lad David in. What did the boy think when he found his father 
and his brothers waiting, with the old prophet in the midst? What did it 
mean that the eye of the seer was set upon him, as were the eyes of all in the 
house? 

Samuel saw a noble youth, ' ruddy, and of a beautiful countenance, and 
goodly to look to." He had been told that he must not look on the outward 
appearance "for the Lord seeth not as man seeth," and so he waited a little 
until the Lord said : 

"Arise, anoint him, for this is he." Then he took the horn of oil, and 
anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the spirit of the Lord came 
upon David from that day forward, and Samuel went back to his house in 
Ramah. 

It may be that his father and his brothers did not understand that the 
boy had been called to be king over Israel, but a new spirit of wisdom, 
and love, and strength came upon David, and though he went back to his 
father's flocks with no thought of being greater than his brothers, he went 
with a new song in his heart which he sang to the little harp he had made 
while watching the sheep. Long after when he was Kmg of Israel, he made, 
in memory of these days the beautiful Psalm to be sung in the temple begin- 
ning, 

" The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE POWER OF A PEBBLE. 

Saul the sullen was still king over Israel, although he had departed from 
the Lord, and in His sight he was no longer a king. He was very gloomy 
and dark in his mind, for he had driven the Lord's spirit away, and his light 
was gone. 

His servants tried to amuse him, and told him of David, the son of Jesse, 
who was a skillful player on the harp, and a brave and handsome youth. So 
Saul sent for David, and David, bringing presents from his father, came to the 
king's house. 

Saul was greatly pleased with David, and asked Jesse to let his son stay 
with him, for when the evil spirit was upon him, if David played upon his 
harp the darkness left him. But this did not last, and after a while David 
went back to his flocks, and Saul forgot him. 

Then the Philistines rose against Israel again. Their camp was on a 
mountain side, and Saul gathered his warriors on the side of another moun- 
tain and there was a valley between them. *" 

Out of the Philistine camp a giant came one day, Goliath of Gath. He 
talked loud and often in order to terrify the Israelites, asking them to send 
out a man to fight with him, but he was not truly brave, for he had carefully 
covered his great body with armor of brass, so that no spear or sword could 
touch him He defied Israel every morning and evening for forty days, and 
no one was found who would dare to go out alone to fight him. David's 
elder brothers were in camp, and Jesse, their father, called David from the 
flocks to take food to them. He found the army of Israel ready to go into 
battle, but Goliath came out as he had done each day and defied the Israelites, 
who ran in terror at the sight of him. The spirit of David was moved at this, 
and he said : 

"Who is this Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living 
God?" "The man who killeth him," said one, "the King will enrich him, 
and, will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel." 

Then Eliab, David's eldest brother, spoke sternly to David asking him 
why he had left his sheep to come down and see the battle, and called him 
naughty and proud, but David still talked with the men, for the spirit of the 

(74) 



THE POWER OF A PEBBLE. 75 

Lord was strong within him. When Saul heard of him and sent for him, 
David said : 

"Let no man's heart fail because of him ; thy servant will go and fight 
with the Philistine." 

Saul frowned at David and said : 

"Thou art not able to go against this Philistine ; thou art but a youth, 
and he is a man of war," 

Then David told the king how he had killed both a lion and a bear that 
had come down upon his father's flocks, and that he could also conquer the 
Philistine. 

"The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and the paw of 
the bear," said David, " He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." 
And Saul said : " Go ! and the Lord be with thee." Then Saul armed David 
with his own armor, but David said : 

"I can not go with these, for I have not proved them," and he put 
them off. 

And this was the way David armed himself to meet the giant. 

He took his staff in hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook 
and put them in his shepherd's bag, and with his sling in his hand, he drew 
near to the giant. Goliath came on also, his armor-bearer carrying the shield 
before him, but when he saw the youth David, he despised him, for he was 
without armor, or sword or spear, only his staff. 

"Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff," said Goliath, and 
then he told him that he would soon give his flesh to the birds and the beasts. 

"Thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and a shield," said 
David, " but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God 
of the armies of Israel whom thou hast despised." 

Then the Philistine came down upon little David to destroy him, and 
David ran, not away from him, as the men of Israel had done, but straight 
toward him, taking a pebble from his shepherd's bag as he ran. Quickly 
putting it in the sling, he whirled it in the air once, twice, and then it went swift 
and straight to the mark. It sunk into the forehead of the giant, and he fell 
dead upon his face. Then David ran and stood upon the dead Philistine and 
cut off his head with the giant's great sword, and when the Philistines saw 
that their champion was really dead, they fled, pursued by the shouting hosts 
of Israel. 



76 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Saul had forgotten the youth who played upon the harp before him, for 
when he sent for him after the battle he said, 

"Whose son art thou, thou young man ?" and David answered, 
"I am the son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite." 
And Saul took him to live with him from that day. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 

Saul had a son named Jonathan, and he loved David as his own soul. 
He took off his princely robes, even to his sword, and his bow, and his girdle, 
and made David wear them ; and David acted wisely in all that the king gave 
him to do. There was great joy and much feasting over the Death of 
Goliath and the flight of the Philistines, and wherever Saul went, the women 
came out of the cities to meet him, singing and dancing, and the song with 
which they answered one another was, 

" Saul hath slain his thousands. 
And David his tens of thousands." 

Saul did not like this, and an evil spirit of jealousy came upon him, and 
he thought " What can he have more but the kingdom." 

The next day the evil spirit came upon Saul in the house, and David 
played on his harp to quiet him, but Saul hurled a spear at David, hoping to 
fasten him to the wall with it. This he did twice, but the Lord guided 
the spear away from David, just as he guided the pebble to Goliath, and 
he was unhurt. Saul was afraid of David. He was afraid that God was 
preparing him to be king over Israel, so he sent him into battle, hoping he 
would be killed, but the life of David was in the Lord's hand, and no enemy 
could destroy it. 

After a great battle, in which David had been victorious, the evil spirit 
came again upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, 
while David played on the harp. Again he tried to kill David, but the 
spear struck the wall and David slipped away. 




-5- 



THE POWER OF A PEBBLE. 



78 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

It was clear that David could not live near the king, and so he talked 
with Jonathan, his friend, who said, 

"God forbid, thou shalt not die," but David said, 

"Truly there is but a step between me and death." 

Then they made a promise to each other before the Lord that should last 
while they lived. They promised to show "the kindness of the Lord" to 
each other while life should last. 

Jonathan told David that he might go away for three days, and they went 
out into a field together. They feared the anger of Saul when he found 
that David was absent from the feast of the new moon. So Jonathan told 
David to return after three days and hide behind a great rock in the field. 
Then Jonathan said he would come out and shoot three arrows from his bow, 
as if he were shooting at a mark, and he would send his arrow-bearer to pick 
them up. If he should call to the lad, "The arrows are on this side of 
thee," David would know that Saul was not angry, and would not hurt him, 
but if he cried, "The arrows are beyond thee," David would know he was 
in danger and must go away. 

On the second day of the feast, Saul asked why David was not there, 
and Jonathan told him he had asked permission to go away for three days. 
Then Saul was very angry. He blamed his son for loving David, for, as 
Saul's son, Jonathan should be king after his death, but he never would be if 
David lived, and he commanded Jonathan to bring him that he might put him 
to death. When Jonathan asked what evil David had done that he should be 
put to death, Saul cast his spear at his own son. Then Jonathan knew there 
was no hope for David, and left the table in sorrow. 

The next day he went out to the rock in the field with his armor-bearer 
and sent him on before. When he shot an arrow, he cried : 

" The arrow is beyond thee ; make haste ! stay not ! " 

And David, in his hiding place heard it, and knew that he must flee for 
his life. 

Then Jonathan gave hi.<i; bow and arrows to the lad to take to the town, 
and David came out from his hiding place, and they kissed each other and 
wept together. But at last Jonathan said : 

"Go in peace: as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, 
saying. The Lord be between me and thee, and between my children and thy 
children forever." 

And David went away to hide from Saul, and Jonathan went back to the 
king's house. 



DAVID THE OUTCAST. 79 

For seven years Saul hunted for David to take his life, and David, often 
hiding in caves in the wilderness, could not see his friend Jonathan, but they 
were faithful in their friendship, and when at last Saul was slain in battle, and 
Jonathan also, David came to mourn over his friend, saying : 

" I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan : very pleasant hast thou 
been unto me ; thy love for me was wonderful, passing the love of women." 



CHAPTER XXII. 
DAVID THE OUTCAST. 

For seven years King Saul hunted David from one end of the land of 
Israel to the other. The evil spirit of jealousy and hate had full possession of 
him, and David, with a few faithful men, was driven from one stronghold to 
another, until he cried, "They gather themselves together; they hide them- 
selves ; they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. What time I am 
afraid I will trust in thee." 

He had escaped again and again from the hand of Saul, and now he was 
down in the desert country by the Dead Sea, hiding among the cliffs and caves 
of Engedi. Saul heard of it and took three thousand men to hunt for him among 
the rocks of the wild goats. He was very tired after climbing the rocks, and 
seeing a cave, he went in to lie down for a little sleep. He did not know 
that David and his men were in the cave hiding in the dark sides of it. Then 
his men whispered to David : 

" Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee : 'I will deliver thine 
enemy into thine hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good to 
thee.' " Then David arose and crept near to Saul, and — did he kill the man 
who had so often tried to kill him ? 

No, he bent down and cut off a part of Saul's robe. Even this seemed 
wrong to David. 

" The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master," he 
said " to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the annointed of the 
Lord," and in this way he kept his servants from harming Saul, and after Saul 
awoke he went out of the cave. 

David also went out of the cave and cried, 

" My Lord the King !" 
5 




THE GARMENT OF SATJI.. 



DAVID THE OUTCAST. 8i 

And when Saul turned David bowed down to him and asked him why he . 
listened to men who said that he wished to harm the king, and then he told 
him how the Lord had given him into his hand in the cave, but he would not 
touch the Lord's annointed to harm him. 

" See, my father," he cried " see the skirt of thy robe in my hand. I have 
not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it." 

Much more he said, and asked the Lord to Judge between them, and 
Saul's hard heart was moved so that he wept aloud. 

" Is this thy voice, my son David," he said, "Thou art more righteous 
than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil," 
and he made a covenant with David. For though he made no promise to 
spare David's life, he made David promise to spare the life of his children 
when he should be made king. 

But a year was hardly past before the evil spirit was again upon Saul, 
and he went out with three thousand men to hunt for David. Saul's camp 
was on a hill, and David saw where it was. At night he took Abishai, one of 
his warriors, and went down from the cliffs to Saul's camp, where Saul lay 
sleeping in a trench, and the spear stuck in the ground by his pillow, while all 
his men lay around him. Abishai wished to strike him through with the 
spear, but David said, 

" Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's 
anointed and be guiltless ? The Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come 
to die, or he shall fall in battle and perish ; but take thou now the spear that 
is at his pillow, and the cruse of water, and let us go." 

And they took them and went away, A deep sleep had fallen upon the 
camp of Saul from the Lord, so that no one saw them. 

Then David went up to his stronghold, and from the top of the clift he 
cried to Abner, the captain of Saul's men, and asked why he had not defended 
his Master, and where was the king's spear, and his cruse of water? 

Then Saul cried as before, 

" Is this thy voice, my son David ?" 

"It is my voice, my lord, O King," said David, and again he plead his 
cause with his old enemy, but who could trust to the repentance of Saul ? 
He cried, 

" I have sinned ; return, my son David, for I will no more do thee harm, 
because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. I have played the lool, 
and erred exceedingly." 



82 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

But David trusted him no more, and went and made friends with a 
Philistine prince that he might Hve within their borders. 

Samuel the prophet was dead, and there was no one to give counsel to 
the darkened soul of the King when trouble fell upon him. The Philistines 
had come with a great army, but Saul was afraid, for the Lord's spirit was 
not with him. He tried to seek the Lord through the priests, and through 
dreams, but the Lord answered him not. Then he went to a witch by night, 
and asked her to bring up the spirit of Samuel. The witch could not bring 
up Samuel, but the Lord sent him to speak to Saul, and the woman cried out 
with terror when she saw the prophet of the Lord, and knew also that it was 
the King who had called for him. 

"I am sore distressed," said Saul, "and God is departed from me. What 
shall I do?" 

Then Samuel told him plainly that the kingdom was taken from him and 
given to David, and that on the next day he and his sons should fall in battle, 
and the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines. 

Saul, forsaken and despairing, fell to the earth fainting, but was revived 
by the woman, who gave him food so that he went away through the dark to 
the camp of Israel. 

In the battle of the next day the Philistines conquered. The three sons 
of Saul were slain, and Saul himself, when chased by the Philistines, fell upon 
his own sword and died. 

When a messenger brought news of the battle to David he rent his 
clothes for grief, and in the chant of lamentation that he made, he mourned 
for his faithful friend Jonathan, and had no word of blame for his enemy Saul^ 
neither did he triumph over him. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
EVERY INCH A KING. 



After Saul's death David came back to live with his own people, for he 
was of the tribe of Judah. He went to Hebron, the old home of Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, for the Lord had told him to go there, and the men of his 
tribe came to Hebron and anointed him king. The other tribes did not come> 



EVERY INCH A KING. 83 

for Saul's son and the captain of his host, Abner, were still holding the king- 
dom. But when both were killed by an enemy, then all the other tribes came to 
Hebron and made a league with him, so seven years after Saul's death David 
became king over all Israel. He was then thirty years old and his reign lasted 
forty years. 

Then David began to establish the kingdom. There was a rocky height 
not far from Hebron with a valley all around it that was still held by the 
Jebusites, one of the tribes of Canaan that the Lord said must not be left in 
the land. The city was Jerusalem, and the stronghold was Zion, and close 
by Zion was the mount to which Abraham had once gone to offer up Isaac. 
David wanted this stronghold for the chief city of the kingdom, and so he 
took it, and it became the city of David. He built a beautiful house for him- 
self there, and King Hiram of Tyre sent skilled workmen, and cedar trees, 
and they built a house of cedar for him. But stronger than the wish to have 
a house for himself was the longing to see the Ark of God set within the 
curtains of the Tabernacle in the city of David. It had been in the house of 
Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim for seventy years, ever since it was sent home 
by the Philistines who captured it. Because the people had grown cold 
toward God, they did not wish to hear the reading of the law, or be led by his 
counsel. Now David called together the flower of all Israel, thirty thousand 
men, and they went to bring the Ark to the city of David. While on the way 
a man who had laid his hand upon the Ark when it was unsteady was smitten 
and died, for no one but the priests and Levites could touch the Ark of God. 
David feared to bring it further, and so he placed it in the house of Obed- 
edom which was near by. It was there three months, and great blessing 
came to the house because of it. When David heard this he went joyfully 
down to bring the Ark to his city, and it was with sacrifices, and shouting, 
and the sound of trumpet that it was brought and set in the Tabernacle that 
had been made ready for it. And so the worship of the Lord was established 
in Jerusalem, which was to be the great altar for the sacrificial worship until 
the sacrifice should be taken away, and the kingdom of Christ established on 
the earth. 

But David was not satisfied. 

"See," he said to Nathan the prophet, "I dwell in a house of cedar, but 
the Ark of God dwelleth within curtains." 

That night the Lord spoke to Nathan and told him what to say to the 
king. He promised to establish the royal house of David, and give final 
peace to the people, and also to build a house for the worship of the Lord, 



84 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

but he said that David's son, who should be king after him, should build a 
house to his name, and of him the Lord said, "I will be his Father, and he 
shall be my son." 

Then King David went in to the Tabernacle and thanked the Lord for 
His promise to him and to his son, and asked His blessing upon them. 
Though he reigned forty years, he never forgot that his work was not to build 
the temple of the Lord, but to prepare for it. So he subdued enemies, built 
cities, made leagues with friendly nations, gathered much wealth of wood, and 
stone, and gold, and silver and precious stones for the house of the Lord, and 
trained choirs of singers for the service. He also kept his heart open toward 
the Lord, so that he was able to write some wonderful poems that were set to 
music and sung by the temple choirs. We call them the Psalms of David. 

Though David had grown rich and great, he did not forget his promise 
to Jonathan. He called Ziba, who had been Saul's servant and said to him, 

"Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness 
of God to him ?" 

Then Ziba told him of a man who was lame in both his feet, who was the 
son of Jonathan. David sent for him, and gave him all the land of Saul, and 
a place was made for him at the king's table among his own sons, and it was 
his while he lived. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

David's sin. 

The army of Israel was at war with the Ammonites, and Joab was the 
chief captain. David did not go out with the army, but stayed in his house in 
Jerusalem. One evening he was walking on the flat roof of his house, as the 
people of that country always do, and he saw a little way off a very beautiful 
woman. He sent a servant to ask who she was, and found she was the wife 
of Uriah who was in the army with Joab, fighting the Ammonites. Then a 
great temptation was set before David, and instead of going to the Lord to 
be saved from it, he sent to Joab, asking him to send him Uriah, the Hittite. 
So Uriah came, and David talked kindly with him, and found him a good and 
faithful man. When he went back to Joab he took a letter from David, who 
asked that he be set in the front of the battle. So Joab placed him there, 
and when the two armies met Uriah was killed, and Joab sent a messenger to 



DAVID'S SIN. 85 

tell David. After her mourning was ended, Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, 
became the wife of David, but the Lord was displeased with David. He also 
knew David's heart and how to deal with him, so he sent Nathan the prophet 
to him. 

"There were two men in one city," said Nathan, "one of them rich and 
the other poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds, but the poor man 
had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished 
up; and it grew together with him and with his children : it did eat of his own 
meat and drink of his own cup, and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a 
daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to 
take of his own flock to dress for the wayfaring man that was come to him, 
but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to 
him." 

David was very angry at the man who could do such a cruel thing, and 
he said to Nathan, 

"The man that hath done this thing shall surely die ; and he shall restore 
the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." 

Then Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man," and he told him how 
greatly the Lord had blessed him in making him King over Israel, and in deliv- 
ering him from the hand of Saul, and how he had slain a faithful servant and 
taken his wife for himself; therefore evil would befall him. 

David said, "I have sinned against the Lord," and the Lord saw that his 
repentance was real, and forgave the sin, but that David might never forget 
and sin again, the Lord took the little child that was born to him and to 
Bathsheba. While it was sick David fasted and lay all night upon the earth, 
and would not rise to taste food. This he did for seven days while the little 
child was sick, but when they told him that his child was dead he arose and 
bathed and dressed himself and went to the house of the Lord to worship, and 
returned to take his food. Then his servants wondered at it, and replied, 

"While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept, for I said, who can tell 
whether God will be gracious unto me that the child may live. But now he is 
dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back again ? I shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me." 

After this another child was born to Bathsheba, and they named him 
Solomon, which means " Peaceable." 

And David wrote a prayer of repentance for his sin. It is the fifty-first 
Psalm, and has been the prayer of penitent souls for nearly three thousand 
years. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

David's sorrow. 

David had a very beautiful son named Absalom. From the crown of his 
head to the soles of his feet there was no fault to be seen in him. His hair 
was thick and long, and his beauty was much talked of through all Israel. 
But the Lord who looks upon the heart saw that the heart of Absalom was 
wicked and false. He killed his brother Amnon, and then fled to another 
country and stayed three years. When he returned he tried to see his father, 
but David would not see him for two years. Then Absalom forced Joab to 
bring him to the king's house by setting Joab's barley field on fire. He was false 
as well as handsome, and won his father's heart by pretending to be humble. 

After this Absalom began to live more like a king than a prince. He 
had fifty men to run before his chariot when he rode, and he stood in the city 
gates and talked with the men who came to see the king about their rights. 
He told them that if he were ruler over the land every man should have all 
that he wanted, and deceived many by a false show of friendship. 

Then he asked the king if he could go to Hebron to pay a vow to the 
Lord by offering sacrifice there, and David told him to go in peace, and he 
went. But he had cruelly deceived his father. He had sent spies through 
all the land to persuade them to join him at Hebron and make him king. He 
also took two hundred men out of Jerusalem to help him, and one of them 
was David's counsellor. They had arranged to have all the people, as soon 
as they heard anywhere the sound of the trumpet, to cry, 

"Absalom is king in Hebron." 

Then it came to the ears of David that his people had been led away by 
deceit to follow Absalom, and David, who had been fearless before Goliath 
and before great armies of other nations, was afraid. His heart was broken 
at the treachery of his son, and he said to his servants, 

" Arise, and let us flee ; make haste and go, for fear Absalom may come 
and fight against the city with the sword." 

His servants were ready to fight for him, but he fled in haste over the 

brook Kedron and went toward the wilderness, with all of the people of the 

city with him, until there was a great multitude, and in the midst the priests 

and the Levites bearing the Ark of God, but when David saw this he said, 
(86) 




SAUL ATTEMPTS THE LIFE OF DAVID. 



88 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Carry back the Ark of God into the city. If I shall find favor in the 
eyes of the Lord He will bring me again. Let Him do to me as seemeth 
good to Him." 

So the priests and the Levites returned to the city with the Ark of God. 

It was a sad procession that went over the Mount of Olives led by 
David, weeping as he went, with his head covered and his feet bare. Some 
enemies of the house of Saul came out and troubled him by the way, but 
there was no anger in the heart of David toward any. He believed the 
hand of the Lord was upon him, and he said, 

"It may be the Lord will look on mine affliction." 

Absalom came to Jerusalem, and while he was asking his chief coun- 
sellor what to do, he was persuaded by a friend of David, who had stayed 
behind, to wait until he had gathered a larger army before he followed after 
David. This gave him time to send word to David to cross over Jordan 
before Absalom should overtake him. The chief counsellor, when he saw 
that his advice was not followed, went to his own house and hanged him- 
self, for he knew that the Lord was bringing his counsel to naught. 

After David had passed over into Gilead the people of that land brought 
food, and dishes, and beds to the sorrowful king and his tired people, and 
they were cared for in the city of Mahanaim. Then Joab, the captain, 
gathered the men together to go and meet Absalom and his army, and as 
they passed out of the city David stood in the gate and charged all the cap- 
tains as they passed, saying 

" Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man, even with Absalom." 

So they went out to battle, and it was in a wood. God had given David's 
army the victory, and twenty thousand men of Absalom's army were slain. 
Absalom, who rode on a mule, was caught by his long thick hair in the 
branches of an oak tree, and the mule went away and left him hanging there. 

A man ran and told Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging in an oak. 

"Why didst thou not smite him there ?" said Joab. 

The man said he would not have done it for a thousand shekels of 
silver, because David had charged them all not to touch the young man 
Absalom. 

But Joab turned away, and when he had found Absalom in the oak, he^ 
with the ten young men who were with him, killed Absalom, and they buried 
him in the wood. 

Then Joab sent two messengers to carry news of the victory to the king, 
who sat between the city gates, while a watchman stood over the gates on the 




THE DEATH OF ABSALOM. 



90 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

city wall. When the watchmen saw the two men running, one after the other, 
he cried out and told the king. The first man cried as he came, " All is well," 
but when the king said, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" he could not 
answer, and when the second messenger cried, "Tidings, my lord, the king," 
again David asked, 

" Is the young man Absalom safe ?" 

The enemies of my lord the king and all that rise against thee to do thee 
hurt be as that young man," said the messenger. 

Then the king went up to the room over the city gate and wept, and as 
he went he cried, 

" O my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had died 
for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !" 

The people who had come back joyful because the enemy had been con- 
quered were distressed by the grief of the king, so that Joab persuaded 
David to come down to the gate and meet the people. 

After this those who were left of the followers of Absalom begged the 
king to come back to Jerusalem, and so he came, and thousands came to 
meet him. He had only forgiving words for those who had injured him, and 
for Barzillai and the men of Gilead who had fed them and shown them great 
kindness in the darkest hour of the king's life, and who came a little way on 
the journey with them, he had grateful words and blessings. 

And so the king came to his own again. He was now getting to be an 
old man, and the love of his people made his last days blessed. 

His warriors said, "Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that 
thou quench not the light of Israel." 

Once he sinned against the Lord by numbering his people. He wanted 
to know how many men in his kingdom could bear arms in battle, and he for- 
got that victory over the enemy was not with the many or the few, but with 
the Lord, who is the strength of his people. When he saw that he had done 
wrong he confessed it and begged for forgiveness, but a pestilence spread 
over all the land, and came near to Jerusalem, and the angel was stayed by 
the Lord's hand just over the threshing floor of Araunah. This was the 
broad flat top of Mount Moriah where long before Abraham had built an 
altar on which to offer Isaac. 

When David saw the angel he said, 

" I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done ? Let 
Thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house." 

Then the prophet Gad said, " Go up, rear an altar to the Lord in the 




DAVID MOURNING FOR ABSAI.OM. 



92 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

threshing-floor of Araunah," and David went as the Lord commanded. 

When they reached the mount Araunah offered David the piece of 
ground with the oxen for a sacrifice, but he would not take them as a gift. 

" But I will surely buy it of thee at a price," said David, " neither will I 
offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me 
nothing." 

So he bought the piece of ground and paid for it six hundred shekels of 
gold. Twice had the Lord blessed this spot with a miracle of salvation, 
and twice an altar had been built there, and looking upon it, David said, 

"This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offer- 
ing for Israel," and he prepared to build there the temple of Solomon, — the 
altar of the world. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE BUILDING OF THE GOLDEN HOUSE. 

The time was near when David must leave his people and go to his 
God, and his chief thought was about the house of the Lord that he had 
longed to build, that the Ark of God might be at rest, and that the people 
might have a place of worship for all time to come. He knew that his son 
Solomon was to build the temple, but he was still young, and David made 
ready as far as he could for the building of the house. There were men at 
work in the quarries, cutting great stones, and there were men in the forests 
of Lebanon cutting and hewing cedars, and others gathering iron and brass, 
and gold, and silver for the treasury of David. He also spent much time 
dividing the sons of Levi into companies, so that they could in turn serve with 
the priests in the temple, and ordering the times and manner of service, for 
he believed that this temple would be a house of prayer for all nations. David 
had been a man of war, for he had been called to destroy idol worship in the 
land of Canaan, and to make it the land of Israel, in which the one true God 
should be worshipped forever, but Solomon's reign was to be one of peace, 
and the Lord chose a man of peace to build his house. 

David had another son, Adonijah, who tried to make himself king as 
Absalom did, but David heard of it, and had Solomon proclaimed king before 



THE BUILDING OF THE GOLDEN HOUSE. 93 

his own death, lest trouble should arise after. When Adonijah heard the 
shouts of the people, and the sound of the trumpets he was afraid, and 
expected Solomon would kill him, but Solomon said if he would only show 
himself a good man no harm should come to him. 

The last things that David did were to call his princes and chief men 
together and tell them that the Lord had promised many years before, that 
Solomon should build the house of the Lord during his reign ; and also that 
his children's children should rule over Israel, and he begged them to keep 
the Lord's commandments, that they might keep the good land that had been 
given them. 

He also charged Solomon before them all to serve God with all his heart, 
but if he failed to do so he would be cast off forever. 

David gave Solomon all the plans and patterns for the house of the Lord, 
as the Lord had given them to him ; also the gold and silver stored up for 
time of building. He also told the people, when he had called them together, 
what he had stored for the work of the temple, and asked them who were 
willing to give also. Then the people brought gifts, as they did when the 
Tabernacle was built, and gave them to the Lord. David led them in a great 
thanksgiving service, and they offered three thousand sacrifices, 

Solomon was again anointed king in the presence of all Israel, and took 
the throne of David ; and David died, honored and loved by his people, and 
he was buried in his own city. 

When Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice the Lord came to him in a 
dream and said, 

"Ask what I shall give thee." 

Solomon was wiser than all the sons of David, and yet he did not feel 
himself to be so. He said, 

" I am but a little child ; I know not how to go out or come in, and thy 
servant is in the midst of a great people that cannot be numbered. Give 
therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may 
discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this thy so great a 
people." 

And the Lord said, 

" Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long 
life, neither riches, nor the life of thine enemies, lo, I have given thee a wise 
and understanding heart, and I have also given thee that which thou hast not 
asked — both riches and honor ; and if thou wilt walk in my ways as thy father 
David did, then I will lengthen thy days." 



94 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

The Lord was true to his word. Solomon had wisdom beyond all the 
old and the learned men of his kingdom, and many came to him for counsel 
who were not of Israel, for he was famous among the nations. Some of these 
nations wished to be ruled by him, and brought him many precious things as 
gifts ; they had been conquered by David, and now they wished to be ruled 
by Solomon. He had thousands of servants and he knew how to direct their 
work. Away up in the mountains of Lebanon they worked with the servants 
of Hiram, King of Tyre, getting the cedar timbers ready for the temple, 
while Hiram's artisans in gold, and silver, and brass, and fine linen came to 
Jerusalem to work on the temple, and Solomon sent Hiram wheat, and olive 
oil, and wine. So wise were the workers in stone and wood that when the 
temple was built there was no sound of a hammer or any tool heard on 
Mount Moriah. Each stone was ready to fit into its place, and each piece 
of wood to fit another. 

The house was not like any that we have ever seen. It was not large, 
but it was very precious. The cedar boards that lined the walls were carved 
in flower patterns, and covered with gold. The floor also was covered with 
_gold. He divided the temple in two parts, as the Tabernacle had been, with 
a rich curtain of blue and purple and crimson. The innermost room was 
called the most holy place, and was for the Ark, and its walls were beautiful 
with cherubim, and palm trees, and flowers, overlaid with gold, as was the 
floor also. Within this most holy place stood two cherubim fifteen feet high. 
They were of olive wood covered with gold, and they stood with wings spread 
forth so that they touched each other, and also touched the wall on either 
side, and their wings overshadowed the mercy seat where the Ark of the 
Lord was to rest. All the carvings upon wood were covered with gold, and 
precious stones were set among them for light and beauty, 

Solomon's workmen made two great pillars of brass to stand before the 
house, and a great brass altar for the burnt offerings. They also made ten 
basins of brass that were set upon wheels, and one very great one called the 
"sea" which stood on twelve brass oxen. 

They also made many things for the use of the temple — candlesticks, 
and spoons, and censers all of pure gold, and there was also a golden altar 
and a golden table. 

Solomon was seven years building the house of the Lord, and when it 
was finished, and its outer courts made ready, he called all the elders and 
chief men of Israel together to carry the Ark of God to its place. So the 
Ark, borne by the priests, and holding the tables of the law, was carried into 



THE BUILDING OF A GOLDEN HOUSE. 95 

the most holy place, and set under the wings of the cherubim. After the 
priests came out a cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could 
not go in. It was the glory of the presence of the Lord. 

Then Solomon stood before all the people and gave thanks to God and 
asked him to take the temple for his own house to dwell in, and kneeling 
down, he prayed that wherever the children of Israel might be, at home, or 
captives in a strange land, that the Lord would hear them when they prayed 
toward his house, and that all prayer offered in it might be heard and answered. 

Then fire from heaven fell upon the great altar, and the sacrifice was 
consumed, and all over the great pavement of the court the people bowed 
and worshipped the Lord, saying, "For He is good, and His mercy endureth 
forever." 

There were offerings and feasting for fourteen days, and then the people 
went to their homes to think of the wonderful things they had seen. And 
there were sacrifices offered morning and evening each day, on the Sabbath, 
and at the three great feasts of the year — the feast of the passover, the feast 
of the harvest, and the feast of tabernacles. 

Solomon also built a wonderful house for himself, and another called the 
" house of the forest of Lebanon," where he kept his armor. The roof was up- 
held by cedars of Lebanon, standing like mighty pillars beneath it. So famous 
did his work and his wisdom become that a queen from a distant land called 
Sheba came to visit him. She came with a caravan of servants and camels 
bringing costly presents of spices, and gold, and precious stones. She asked 
him many things that she had longed to know, and he answered all her 
questions, and told her strange and wonderful things, so that after she had 
seen all his palace, and his servants, and the service of his table, and the 
beautiful ascent by which he went up to the temple, she said that the half had 
never been told her in her own country. They exchanged costly presents, 
and she went back to her own land. 

Solomon had many ships upon the sea that brought riches from every 
land. He learned much of the world in this way, and as he grew older and 
from his throne of gold and ivory judged his people, he dropped many wise 
sayings that were written in a book by the scribes and are now called the 
"Proverbs of Solomon." 

But in Solomon's latter days his wives, who were daughters of heathen 
kings, turned his heart from the Lord. When his father sinned he repented 
at once, and his heart never turned to idols, but with all his wisdom, Solomon 
was weak of will, and built temples for his wives to worship idols in. 






! I 



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THE QUEEN OF SHEBA BEFORE SOI.OMON. 



ELIJAH THE GREAT HEART OF ISRAEL. 97 

The Lord had made a promise to David that his sons should inherit the 
throne, and He kept the promise, but he allowed the kingdom to be divided. 
The two tribes who lived near to Jerusalem — Judah and Benjamin — were left 
to Solomon's son Rehoboam, but the ten tribes chose a man named Jero- 
boam to be their king. The men of Rehoboam, led by their king, went out 
to fight with the ten tribes, but the Lord would not let them. He spoke to 
them through a prophet and they went home. 

So now there were two kings in Israel, and Rehoboam's kingdom was 
called the kingdom of Judah, and that of Jeroboam was called the kingdom 
of Israel ; but after the kingdom was divided no kings ever reigned who 
could be compared with David and Solomon. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

ELIJAH THE GREAT HEART OF ISRAEL. 

During the reign of Jehoshaphat, fourth king of Judah, and Ahab, sixth 
king of Israel, after the division of the kingdom, there came out of Gilead 
Elijah, a prophet of the Lord. Two of the kings of Judah, and all of the 
kings of Israel had been wicked men, and the Lord sent Elijah to Ahab, 
king of Israel, to tell him that there should be no rain for years in the land 
of Israel, and then only as Elijah should ask for it. Ahab was more wicked 
than the kings that reigned before him, and had built a temple for the god 
Baal in Samaria. 

Because he would seek to destroy Elijah, the Lord told His prophet 
to go to the brook Cherith that ran into the Jordan, and there He would take 
care of him, " Thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the 
ravens to feed thee there," said the Lord. 

And so it was. Morning and evening the ravens came bringing bread 
and meat, and the brook brought him water out of the rock, but as there was 
no rain, the brook at last dried up, and there was a great famine. 

Then Elijah was told to go to Zarephath, for a woman there had been 

told to feed him, and he went at once. As he came near the city gate he saw 

a woman gathering sticks, and he asked her to bring him a cup of water 

and a litde bread. She told him that she had but a handful of meal in a 
6 



98 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and she was going to bake it for herself and 
son, that they might eat it and die. 

Then Elijah said, " Fear not ; go and do as thou hast said, but make me 
thereof a little cake first, and after that make for thee and thy son, for thus 
saith the Lord God of Israel, ' The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither 
shall the cruse of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the 
earth.'" 

She believed Elijah, and did as he commanded, and they ate for a whole 
year, and the meal and the oil lasted all that time. 

After this the woman's son grew very sick, so very sick that he appeared 
to be dead, and the woman cried to the prophet in her distress, 

" O thou man of God, art thou come unto me to call my sin to remem- 
brance and to slay my son ?" 

Then he said, " Give me thy son," and he took him up to his own room 
and laid him upon his bed and prayed over him. Then he stretched himself 
upon the child three times and cried, 

" O Lord my God, I pray Thee let this child's soul come unto him 
again ! " 

And God heard Elijah, and the soul of the child came to him again, and 
he revived. 

Then he gave the boy to his happy and grateful mother, saying, " See, 
thy son liveth." 

In the third year of the famine the Lord said to Elijah, 

"Go, show thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth." 

As Elijah went he met a good man named Obadiah, who was governor 
of the king's house. This man worshipped the Lord, and when Ahab's 
wicked wife, Jezebel, tried to kill all the Lord's prophets he hid a hundred 
of them in two caves and kept them alive with bread and water. He was 
seeking grass and water for the king's horses, and when he saw Elijah he 
fell on his face and said, 

" Art thou my Lord Elijah ? " 

" I am," said Elijah, "go, tell thy lord, ' Behold, Elijah is here.' " 

Obadiah was in distress at this command, for he knew that the king 
would kill Elijah if he found him, and he could not think that Elijah would be 
brave enough to meet the king, or he thought perhaps the spirit of the Lord 
would carry him away, and he alone would have to meet the anger of the king, 

"As the Lord of hosts liveth," said Elijah, "I will surely show myself 
unto him to-day." 



ELIJAH THE GREAT HEART OF ISRAEL. 99 

So Obadiah told Ahab, and Ahab went to meet Elijah, and said to him, 

"Art thou he that troubleth Israel ?" 

"I have not troubled Israel," he said, "but thou and thy father's house, 
in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast 
followed Baalim." 

Then he told Ahab to call all Israel to Mount Carmel which overlooks 
the sea, and to bring there also the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, 
and the four hundred prophets of the groves. 

So the king called them together, and Elijah cried to the people, 

"How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow 
Him ; but if Baal, follow him. 

And the people, afraid of the king and his wicked wife, answered not a 
word. 

"I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord," said Elijah, "but Baal's 
prophets are four hundred and fifty men." And then he told the people how 
it could be proven which was true — the God of Israel, or Baal. 

He told the prophets of Baal to make an altar and place wood and a sacri- 
fice upon it, and he also would do the same, and they should call upon Baal, 
and he would call on the name of the Lord, and " the God that answereth by 
fire, let him be God." 

This the priests of Baal were willing to do, and they cried around their 
altar from morning until night, " O Baal, hear us," but there was no voice, 
and no answer by fire. 

Elijah watched and waited, sometimes telling them that perhaps their 
god was asleep, and could be waked ; or that he had gone on a journey, or 
was talking with somebody, and then they became wild and leaped upon 
the altar and cut themselves with knives. 

After many hours Elijah called the people to him, and he repaired a 
broken altar of the Lord that stood there with twelve stones for the twelve 
tribes of Israel, and made a trench all around it. Then he placed wood on 
the altar and told the people to pour four barrels of water over the sacrifice. 
This they did three times, and the water ran down and filled the trench 
around the altar, and the people saw that Elijah could not by any means make 
a fire there. 

Then, as it was the hour of the evening sacrifice in the temple, Elijah 
knelt by his altar with his face toward Jerusalem, and prayed to his God that 
He would hear him, and show the people that they were called from the wor- 
ship of idols to the service of the living God. 



100 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

What a wonderful sight was that, when fire fell from heaven and burnt 
up the sacrifice, and the wood, and the altar, and even the water in the trench 
around the altar ! 

And the people all fell on their faces at the sight, and cried, 

" The Lord He is the God ! The Lord He is the God !" Then Elijah 
told them to take the prophets of Baal and destroy them, and they did so. 

"There is a sound of abundance of rain !" said Elijah to the king, and 
then he went to the very top of Carmel, and threw himself upon the earth, 
hiding his face between his knees, while he sent his servant to look toward 
the sea, and watch for the coming of the rain. 

This the servant did seven times, each time coming to his master and 
saying, " There is nothing," but the prophet told him to look seven times 
more, and when he came back the seventh time he said, 

" Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand." 

Then he sent his servant to Ahab, saying, 

" Prepare thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not." 

The little cloud grew to be a great one, and filled all the sky until it was 
black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And as Ahab rode 
in his chariot, Elijah, who was strong with the spirit of the Lord and glad 
for His great victory over sin, ran before the chariot to the gates of the city. 

Jezebel the queen was furious when she heard that the priests had been 
destroyed. She sent word to Elijah that he would be treated the same way 
on the morrow, and so Elijah fled for his life, and leaving his servant in 
Beer-Sheba on the southern border of Israel, he went a day's journey into 
the wilderness. There he sat down under a juniper tree, and for the first 
time his heart grew weak within him. 

"It is enough," he said, " Now, O Lord, take away my life, for am I not 
better than my fathers." 

Perhaps he was discouraged because he was tired and hungry, for he 
fell asleep, and when he awoke it was because an angel touched him, say- 
ing, " Arise and eat," and he looked, and there was a cake just baked on the 
hot coals, and a bottle of water close beside him. So he ate and drank, but 
he was not yet rested, and he fell asleep again. The angel waked him the 
second time telling him to eat and drink, for the journey was too great for him. 
Then he ate and drank again, and went on the strength of that food 
forty days and forty nights, till he came to Horeb, the mount of God, where 
the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, and there he lodged in a cave. 








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EIvIJAH AND THK ANGEIv. 



I02 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

He was still gloomy and discouraged, and when the Lord said, " What doest 
thou here, Elijah ?" he said, 

" I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children 
of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy 
prophets with the sword, and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to 
take it." 

Then the Lord told him to go out and stand on the mount before the 
Lord, and he passed by. There was a great wind that split the mountains, 
and broke the great rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after 
the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake ; and after 
the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire ; and after the fire a 
still, small voice. 

When Elijah heard that, he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood at 
the door of the cave, and the Lord asked again, " What doest thou here, 
Elijah ?" and Elijah answered him just as he did before, 

Then the Lord told him to go back and anoint a new king over Syria, 
also a new king over Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his place. 

Elijah went, and he found Elisha ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen. 
He cast his mantle over Elisha, and Elisha followed him and became his 
servant. 

When Elijah came back to his own country he found there had been war 
between Israel and Syria, and Ahab had grown hard of heart again. He and 
his wicked wife Jezebel had taken the vineyard of Naboth away from him 
because Ahab wanted it for a garden, and they had caused the death of 
Naboth, so when Elijah came he found Ahab in the vineyard, and said, 

" Hast thou killed and also taken possession ?" and he told him that he 
should die where Naboth died. 

" Hast thou found me, O mine enemy !" cried the king. 

" I have found thee," answered Elijah, and he spoke to him the word of 
the Lord, that he should be destroyed out of Israel with his whole family. 

Then Ahab repented, and the Lord spared his life two years, but later his 
wife Jezebel came to a dreadful end, with the seventy sons of Ahab. 

When the time came for the Lord to take his servant to himself, Elijah 
wished to be alone, but Elisha his servant would not leave him. He followed 
his master from one town to another until they came to the river Jordan. 
Then Elijah took off his mantle, and folding it, struck the waters and they 
were divided, so that they went over on dry ground. Then Elijah said, 




EIvIJAH AND THE CHARIOT OF FIRE. 



I04 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Ask what I shall do for thee," and Elisha prayed that a double portion of 
his Master's spirit might rest upon him. 

" If thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee," he 
said, "but if not, it shall not be so." 

And as they went there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, 
parting them from each other, and Elijah went up in a whirwind to heaven. 
Now Elisha wished his master to know that he saw him, so he cried, 

" My father, my father ! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof! " 
and he saw him no more. 

Then he took Elijah's mantle that fell from him, and struck the waters 
of Jordan again, and they parted, and he went over, and he knew that the 
power of the old prophet's spirit had been given to him. 

Fifty young men, sons of the prophets, saw him return, and they said, 

"The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha," and they bowed themselves to 
the ground before him. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE LITTLE CHAMBER ON THE WALL. 

Elisha did many wonderful things in the strength of the spirit that Elijah's 
God gave him. He changed the waters of Jericho, so that they were no 
longer poisonous, by casting salt in the spring. 

He brought water for the thirsty armies of three kings who had gathered 
to battle, by telling them to dig ditches in a valley of Edom, and watch for 
the water to come, without wind or rain. When the morning dawned the 
valley was full of running water. 

He helped a poor widow to pay a debt and take care of her two sons by 
telling her to borrow empty pots and pans of all her neighbors, and pour into 
them her one little pot of oil. The oil increased until all the pots and pans 
were full, and she had plenty to sell. 

He saved the sons of the prophets from death by casting meal into the 
pot when a poisonous nut had been mingled with the food, and he fed a 
hundred people with the bread that was brought as a portion for himself. 

But the most beautiful story in the life of Elisha is that of the Shun-amite 
mother and her son. The mother was a noble lady of Shun-em, who 




THE FEEDING OF EUJAH. 



io6 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

believed in God, and in the good man who passed her house so often, and 
she said to her husband, 

" Let us make foi" him a httle chamber on the wall." And so they did, 
and when Elisha came again he lodged there. He was grateful to these kind 
people, and asked the woman what he should do for her — if she would ask 
anything of the king, but she only said, 

" I dwell among mine own people." 

Then the prophet, knowing that she had no child, promised that she 
should have a son, and though it was hard to believe, the little son was sent 
to her, and she was very happy. But one day when he went out in the field 
where his father and his men were reaping, he cried out, "My head, my 
head !" and they carried him in to his mother. She held him in her arms 
until noon, and then he died and she laid him in the prophet's chamber. 
Perhaps the heat of the harvest time had been too great for one so young. 
Did the mother cry out and call her husband? No, she called for a servant 
and a donkey, and rode as fast as she could to Mount Carmel where Elisha 
was. His servant saw her coming, and Elisha sent him to meet her and ask 
if it was well with her and her husband and her child, and she said, 

"It is well," though her heart was breaking. 

"Did I ask a son of my lord?" she said as she came to Elisha and fell 
at his feet. Then he knew that the child was ill or dead, and he would have 
sent his servant to lay his staff on the child, but the mother cried, 

"As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee," and 
he arose and followed her. 

When he came to the Shun-amite's house he went into his little room 
where the dead child lay upon his bed, and, shutting the door, prayed to the 
Lord. Then he stretched himself upon the child, and breathed upon him 
until life began to creep back into the little cold body, and when he had done 
this twice the child opened his eyes Then Elisha called the mother, and 
when she had fallen at his feet in grateful joy, she took up her child and went 
out. 




EIvIJAH RAISES THE WIDOW'S SON. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

A LITTLE MAID OF ISRAEL. 

There was war almost all the time between Israel and Syria. A band of 
Syrians from Damascus would often come into a village of Israel and take 
the people away for slaves. One little girl who was carried off by the 
Syrians became a slave in the house of a Syrian general called Naaman, and 
was a maid to Naaman's wife. 

Naaman was a great man, and beloved by all, but he had a disease that 
could never be cured. It was leprosy. He could go about, but he could not 
touch others without giving them the disease which turns the skin white and 
dead, and finally eats the flesh away. 

The little maid said to her mistress one day, 

"Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria ! for he 
would recover him of his leprosy." 

When this was told to Naaman he talked with the king, who sent him to 
the king of Israel with a letter, but the king of Israel was angry. 

"Am I God to kill and make alive, that this man doth send unto me to 
recover a man of his leprosy?" he cried, but when Elisha heard of it he said, 

" Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in 
Israel." 

So Naaman came with his horses and chariot to Elisha's house, but the 
prophet did not even come to the door, but sent his servant with this 
message, 

" Go wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, 
and thou shalt be clean." 

But Naaman went away in a rage. He expected Elisha to come out, 
and that there would be a fine scene while he called on the name of God, 
waved his hand over the leprous spots, and made a cure. 

"Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the 
waters of Israel ? May I not wash in them and be clean ?" he said. 

Then some of his servants came near to him and said, 

"My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst 
thou not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith to thee, 'Wash 
and be clean.' " 

(io8) 



THE TWO BOY KINGS. 109 

Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, and his 
flesh became like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 

After this he, with all that were with him, went humbly back to Elisha 
and said, 

" Now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel." And 
he urged the prophet to take gifts from him, but he would not. 

But Naaman begged of Elisha two mule-loads of earth to take to his 
own country. He wanted to build an altar upon it to worship the God of 
Israel, and he thought it must stand on the soil of Israel. 

Did Naaman ever send the little maid of Israel to her home ? We do 
not know, but surely he was kind to her in some way. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE TWO BOY KINGS. 

There were many kings over Israel from the days of Solomon until the 
time when they were carried away captives to Babylon. The kingdom was 
divided soon after Solomon's death, and a king reigned in Jerusalem over the 
kingdom "of Judah, and another in Samaria over the kingdom of Israel. 
There were a few kings who tried to follow that which was right, but the most 
of them were men who were given to idolatry, and who did not help the 
people to remember the true God, The Lord sent them prophets to remind 
them of Him, but they were often driven away or ill treated. There were a 
few good kings of Judah, such as Asa and Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, and 
among them were two who became kings when they were very young. 

When Ahaziah, King of Judah, was killed, his mother, who was a wicked 
woman, killed all his sons, that she herself might be queen. All but a baby 
boy who was hidden with his nurse in the temple, and tenderly cared for by 
the good high priest and his wife for six years. Then when he was seven 
years old the priests and the Levites brought out little Joash and anointed 
him king. They formed a guard all about him, and when the high priest had 
crowned him there was a great cry around the temple of " God save the 
King." 

The old queen heard this and came to see what it meant. When she 



no CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

saw the little Joash standing by a pillar with a crown on his head she cried 
out that the people were plotting against her. 

The people did by her as she had done by her grandsons — they took her 
life. 

Then there was great rejoicing. The house of Baal was torn down, and 
the Lord's gold and silver brought back to the temple, and the good high 
priest began the worship of God in the temple after the manner of former 
days. 

When Joash was old enough to understand he longed to make the temple 
beautiful again, for it was falling into decay, so he called for money through- 
out his kingdom. Everyone was asked to drop a silver piece in the chest 
that was set at the temple door, and more than enough was brought to 
re-build the temple, and while the high priest lived the king worshipped there 
with all the princes of Judah, but as soon as he died they went back to idol 
worship, and killed the new high priest in the court of the temple because he 
told them that the Lord would bring great trouble upon them. And so it 
came to pass in less than a year the Syrians came and killed the princes, and 
took away the gold and silver treasures of the temple. Joash himself became 
very sick, and his own servants took his life as he lay helpless. 

It was quite different with little Josiah. He was only eight years old 
when he was crowned King of Judah, and he had no one so good as the high 
priest Jehoida, who was the teacher of Joash, to help him to do right. Even 
the holy writings that were given to Moses were lost, and the people did not 
ask to hear them read. But the Lord had not allowed His word to be 
destroyed, and when Josiah was having the temple repaired the high priest 
found the rolls of parchment on which the law was written, and sent it to the 
king by a servant of the king who was a writer. Josiah was full of interest in 
the ancient book, and wished to know what was in it, and his servant read it 
to him. 

When he found that he and his people were not living as God had com- 
manded in the law, he sent to inquire of the Lord what He would have them 
to do, and they went to Huldah, the prophetess. She told the king's mes- 
sengers that a great calamity would fall upon the kingdom because they had 
turned away from the true God, but because the king's heart was tender and 
full of desire to follow the Lord, it should not come during his lifetime. 

Then the king called all the chief men of Judah, and the people of the 
city, both great and small, with the priests and the Levites, to the Lord's 
house, and there he read in their hearing the word of the Lord. It was like 



THE FOUR CAPTIVE CHILDREN. iii 

a new book to the most of them, but they were ready to follow the king in 
making a solemn promise to the Lord to do His commandments, and bring 
back the true worship. 

So they had a great feast of the passover, to which all the people came 
with offerings, and there was no passover in all the history of the kings of 
Judah and Israel that was like this one that was held in the eighteenth year 
of the reign of Josiah. 

After he had prepared the temple for worship, and had destroyed the 
altars of the idols, he went out to meet the King of Egypt in battle and was 
killed, and there was a great mourning for him in all the land, for he had 
been a good king — kind to his people and faithful to his God. Jeremiah the 
prophet made a great lamentation for him, for he knew that one of Josiah's 
sons would be the last king of Judah, and that for their sins the people would 
be driven out of their own land to be captives in Babylon for seventy years. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE FOUR CAPTIVE CHILDREN. 

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came with his armies and besieged 
Jerusalem, just as Jeremiah the prophet had foretold. He took the king and 
the princes of Judah captive, and carried away their precious things from the 
temple and the palaces into his own land, and put them in the temples of his 
gods. Before twenty years had passed the whole nation had been driven into 
captivity, and their holy house had been burned, and the ark of the covenant 
lost or destroyed. As the kingdom of Israel had also been scattered, the 
whole land lay desolate, and the walls of the cities were broken down. 

When the King of Babylon first beseiged Jerusalem he carried away the 
finest of the princely families to serve him. They were the flower of Jeru- 
salem — young men of noble face and form ; well taught in the learning of the 
Jews, and skilfull in the sciences of that time. They were also chosen for 
their natural ability to learn the language and the wisdom of the Chaldeans. 

Among these were four boys named Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and 
Azariah. The king gave these boys into the care of his chief officer, who 
set teachers over them and treated them very kindly, while the king sent 
them each day meat and wine from his own table. The Chaldeans offered 



112 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

these things to idols, and then ate of them themselves ; they also used some 
meats for food that were unclean to an Israelite, so that the four children of 
Judah determined that they would not touch the king's meat and drink. 

Daniel spoke to the chief officer about it, and though he had learned to 
love Daniel very much, he was afraid to have the boys refuse the king's food. 

"I fear my lord the king," he said, "who hath appointed your meat and 
your drink, for why should he see your faces sadder than the children which 
are of your sort? Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king." 

But Daniel turned to Melzar, the steward, and begged him to prove 
them by giving them only vegetables to eat and water to drink for ten days, 
and "Then," said he "let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and 
the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat : 
and as thou seest, deal with thy servants." And he proved them for ten 
days. 

At the end of that time their faces were fatter and fairer than the faces 
of all the others who ate portions from the King's table, and they were 
allowed to eat the food they had chosen. 

They also grew in wisdom and judgment. Daniel had the gift of under- 
standing visions and dreams, and the gift came from God, and not from the 
study of magic. Among all the young men these four were most pleasing to 
the king, and they were called to the palace to stand before him. 

Not long after this the king had a dream that seemed very wonderful to 
him, but he could not remember it. He called all his magicians, and 
astrologers, and wise men together, and told them that they must tell him 
what his dream was, and the meaning of it, or he would destroy them. There 
was no man wise enough to tell him, and he ordered that all the wise men 
of Babylon should be killed, Daniel and his friends among them. 

Daniel asked the captain of the king's guard why the king was so hasty 
with his decree, and the captain told him. 

Then Daniel went to the king and told him that if he would give him a 
little time he would tell him his dream and its meaning, and he went to his 
three friends and together they prayed the God of Heaven to show them the 
dream and its interpretation. 

That night Daniel saw in a vision from God the same thing that the king 
had seen and had forgotten. It was a great image standing before the king, 
and shining like the sun. The head was of pure gold, the breast and arms 
of silver, and the rest of the body of brass ; while the legs were of iron, and 




IN THE FIERY FURNACE. 



114 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

the feet were part of iron and part of clay. As he looked a great stone cut 
from a mountain by unseen hands was hurled at the image, striking its feet 
and breaking them. Then the image fell and broke into pieces so fine 
that the winds blew them away, but the stone grew to be a great mountain 
that filled the earth. 

Then Daniel gave thanks to God for showing him the dream, and went 
to the king. 

He told the king that the God of Heaven alone had revealed the dream, 
for no man could know it, and he told him what the dream had been. He 
also told him that God had shown him the meaning ; that the head of gold 
was the king himself, who reigned over the greatest kingdom on earth, but 
after him new kingdoms would rise, and the silver, the brass, the iron and 
the clay stood for these ; but in the days of the kingdom of iron and clay the 
God of heaven would set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed, but 
it would destroy all the kingdoms that had gone before it. This kingdom — 
the great stone cut without hands from the mountain — meant the Kingdom 
of Christ. 

The king was so astonished at Daniel's wisdom — for it was the dream 
he had forgotten brought back and interpreted — that he fell on his face 
before Daniel and reverenced the God of heaven. He made Daniel chief 
ruler in his realm and gave also great honors to his friends. 

Nebuchadnezzar soon forgot God, for he set up a great golden image 
on the plain of Dura, and called a feast of dedication. He had all his princes 
and governors there, and his captains, and judges, and rulers. The musi- 
cians were there also, with many kinds of instruments, and a herald was there 
who cried in a loud voice the command of the king. It was a call to worship 
the golden image. At the first sound of the bands of music all were to fall 
down before the golden image, or failing to do so, be thrown into a fiery 
furnace. 

Among the rulers were the three friends of Daniel, whose names had 
been changed by the king to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They did 
not fall before the golden image, and some jealous Chaldeans who saw them 
weait and told the king. Then the king, who had a fiery temper, was angry, 
and sent for the three young men. He told them the bands should play 
again, and if they failed to worship the golden image they should be cast into 
the furnace, "and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" 
he asked. 




DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 



ii6 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

"We are not careful to answer thee in this matter," they said, " If it be 
so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery fur- 
nace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king." 

Then the king in a great rage called his mighty men to bind the young 
men, and after the furnace was heated seven times hotter than before, they 
were thrown in. So great was the heat that the men who threw them in were 
killed by it in the sight of the king. As he watched the great door of the 
furnace the king rose up and said, 

" Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire ?" 

"True, O king," said his lords and captains. 

Then the king with his eyes fixed upon the glowing door of the furnace 
said, 

" Lo I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have 
no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." 

Then he went near the door of the furnace and cried, 

" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, 
come forth and come hither!" 

Then they came out before the king and all the people, who saw that the 
fire had no power over their bodies, for no hair of their head was burned, 
and no smell of fire was upon their garments. 

Then the king was very humble, and acknowledged the God of heaven, 
"because there is no other God " he said " that can deliver after this sort." 
And he promoted the young men to still higher places in his kingdom. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS. 

The Lord saw that the heart of Nebuchadnezzar was lifted up with pride 
because he was king of a great people, and had conquered many weaker 
nations. He was proud of his royal city, Babylon: The walls of Babylon 
were sixty miles in length, and in them stood one hundred brazen gates. 
There were wonderful palaces, and statues, and bridges, and gardens. The 
river Euphrates ran through the city, and near the king's palace was a hill 
covered with trees and flowering plants from many lands, called the Hanging 
Gardens. 



THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS. 117 

Babylon was built on a plain, but the king had these gardens made for 
his wife, who had come from a country of hills. 

The king was praised so much by the princes and rulers that he thought 
only of his own power and riches, and became proud and cruel. So the Lord 
sent him a dream. He saw a tree great and high, standing in the midst of a 
wide plain. It grew until it reached the heavens, and its branches spread to 
the ends of the earth. It was thick with green leaves, and heavy with fruit ; 
the birds lived in it, and the beasts lay in its shadow, and all things living 
came to it for food. Then he saw an angel coming down from heaven crying, 

"Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches ; shake off his leaves, and 
scatter his fruit ; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his 
branches ; nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with 
a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field ; and let it be wet 
with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the Beasts of the grass of 
the earth ; let his heart be changed from a man's, and let a beast's heart be 
given unto him, and let seven times pass over him." 

This dream was given that the king might be taught that the Lord alone 
is King. 

Daniel, named by the king Belteshazzar, was called to interpret the 
dream, and the Lord gave him power to do it. 

"The tree that thou sawest," said Daniel, "it is thou, O king, that art 
grown and become strong ; for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto 
heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth." 

Then Daniel told the king that he must be driven from men to dwell 
with the beasts of the field ; to eat grass with the oxen, and be wet with the 
dews of heaven, until he had learned that the Most High rules in the king- 
dom of men, and gives to whosoever He will. But as the roots of the tree 
were left in the ground, so his kingdom should be preserved for him until he 
had learned that the heavens do rule. 

At the end of a year the king's heart had not been made humble, for as 
he walked in his palace he said to himself: 

" Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom 
by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ? " - 

And while he yet spoke there fell a voice from heaven, saying : 

" O, King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken ; the kingdom is departed 
from thee." 

And within an hour the word of the Lord came true. For seven years he 

was without reason, and was an outcast from his kingdom. But at the end of 

7 



ii8 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

that time his eyes Avere lifted to heaven and his reason returned, and his king- 
dom was restored to him, for he had learned that God alone is great, and 
" Those that walk in pride He is able to abase." 

Belshazzar was the next king of Babylon. He made a great feast, and a 
thousand of his lords were bidden to sit around his tables in the great hall of 
the palace. While he drank the wine he thought of the holy vessels of gold 
and silver that his father had brought out of the Temple at Jerusalem, and he 
sent for them, and into these golden bowls that had been consecrated to the 
worship of God he poured wine and gave it to his princes and to his wives, 
while they praised the gods of gold, and silver, and wood, and stone. 

While they were feasting, and laughing, and singing, there came a man's 
hand and wrote some strange words on the wall of the great hall where they 
sat. The king saw the hand as it wrote, and he was so much afraid that he 
trembled and grew very weak. He called for his wise men and they could not 
read the writing, but the queen remembered that in the time of Nebuchad- 
nezzar there was a man whom he made master of the maoficians because he 
had power to interpret dreams and make all doubtful things clear. 

So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king told him that if he 
would read the writing on the wall he should be clothed royally and be made 
the third ruler in the king^dom. 

"Let thy gifts be to thyself," said Daniel, "and give thy rewards to 
another, yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the 
interpretation." 

Then Daniel reminded the king of that which fell upon his father Nebu- 
chadnezzar, when he had grown proud and hard-hearted toward God and men, 
and, though he knew all this, he also had lifted himself up against the Lord of 
heaven, and had defiled the holy vessels of the Temple by drinking from them 
to gods which could neither see or hear, and because of this the message had 
been written on the wall. And this was the interpretation of the strange 
words, — 

" God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou art weighed in 
the balances, and art found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to 
the Medes and the Persians." 

The king clothed Daniel in scarlet, and gave him a chain of gold, and 
proclaimed him third ruler in the kingdom, but the same night Belshazzar was 
slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom. 

The new king set one hundred and twenty princes over the kingdom, and 
over these he set three presidents, the first of which was Daniel. The king 




THE HANDWRITING ON THE WAI.L. 



120 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE 

loved Daniel for the wise and good spirit that was in him, and this stirred up 
jealousy in the hearts of the Babylonian princes, and they watched Daniel to 
see if they could find something against him to tell the king, but they could 
not, for he was faithful in all his work. 

Then they agreed to plot against him, and they went to the king and per- 
suaded him to make a decree that whoever should ask any petition of any 
god or man for thirty days, except of the king, he should be thrown into the 
den of lions, and they asked the king to sign the decree, so that it could 
not be changed, and he signed it. 

When Daniel heard of the decree, and knew that the king had signed it, 
he went into his own house, and to his chamber. There the windows were 
always open toward Jerusalem, and he kneeled down as he had done every 
day since he was taken from his own land, and prayed to God with his face 
toward the Temple in Jerusalem. And the men who were plotting against him 
watched him. 

Then they hurried to the king, saying, 

" That Daniel, which is of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O, 
King, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times 
a day." 

The king was greatly disturbed at this, and set his heart on the deliver- 
ance of Daniel, and labored till sunset to do it. But his princes said it could 
not be done, because, according to the law of the Medes and, the Persians, no 
decree made by the king could be changed. 

So Daniel was condemned to be cast into the den of lions, but the king 
said, 

" Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee." 

Then a stone was laid over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it 
with his own signet, and with that of his lords, that the purpose might not be 
changed. ,, 

That was a long night for Darius the king. He could neither eat nor 
sleep, and he would hear no music, but very early in the morning he went to 
the den of the lions and with a very sorrowful voice cried : 

"O Daniel, servant of the living God ! is thy God whom thou servest 
continually able to deliver thee from the lions ? " 

Then up from the pit came a strong, cheery voice saying : 

" O king, Hve forever ! My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the 
lions mouths, that they have not hurt me." 



THE STORY OF JONAH. 121 

Then there was joy in the king's heart and he had Daniel brought up 
out of the den, and no hurt was found upon him, because he had believed in 
God, but the men who had accused Daniel were cast into the lions' den and 
destroyed. 

Darius acknowledged the God of Daniel before all his kingdom, and 
commanded the people to honor Him, so that Daniel and his people suffered 
no more from their enemies during the reign of Darius. After the death o 
Darius, Cyrus was made king of Persia, and he also was kind to Daniel. 
The Lord gave him a tender heart toward the captives of Judah who had 
been in his land for seventy years, so that he sent them back into their own 
land and helped them to rebuild their city and their Temple 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE STORY OF JONAH. 

More than eight hundred years before the birth of Christ a prophet named 
Jonah lived In the land of Israel. He had given the Lord's messages to his own 
people, and they had listened to them, and a part of their country had been 
saved by obeying the Word of the Lord as it was brought to them by Jonah. 

But when the Lord wished to send Jonah to warn a great city in Assyria 
to repent of their sins, he did not wish to go. Nineveh was a very old and a 
very great city. It was built soon after the flood, but was still at a high point 
of glory and wealth in the time of Jonah. 

It was a heathen city, but God is the Father of all who live, and cares for 
all His children, though they may not know or care for Him. 

Perhaps Jonah was afraid, for the people were strong and warlike, and 
they would not wish to hear about their wickedness. So Jonah ran away to the 
sea shore and took a ship from Joppa to go to Tarshish. He had not gone far 
from shore when a storm of wind rose, and the wind tossed the ship on the 
great angry waves until it was very nearly wrecked 

The men were afraid, and each prayed to his God, and threw out the goods 
they were carrying in order to make the ship lighter. 

Where was Jonah ? He was below the decks asleep. When the captain 
found him he cried out, 



122 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" What meanest thou, O sleeper ? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that 
God will think upon us, that we perish not." 

Then they began to wonder if the storm had not been sent upon them for 
the wickedness of some one in the ship, and they cast lots to see who it could 
be. The lot fell upon Jonah. Then they asked Jonah his name and country, 
and of his journey. He told them all about it. Then the men were more 
afraid, for they knew that he had tried to run away from the Lord, and they 
said, 

" What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us ?" ^ 

"Take me up and cast me forth into the sea," he said, " so shall the sea 
be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you," 

It was not easy for the men, who were kind-hearted, to throw into the sea 
a man so honest and so willing to die, so they rowed very hard, and tried their 
best to reach the shore, but they could not. So they prayed to Jonah's God 
to forgive them, and then threw Jonah into the sea. 

But the Lord meant not only to teach Jonah a lesson, but to teach, 
through Jonah, a lesson to His children who should live in the ages to come. 
He was to make him also a sign of the coming Christ. 

When Jonah believed he was sinking down into the green depths of the 
sea to die, a great fish, prepared by the Lord, opened his mouth and took him 
in. We cannot understand all the ways of God, but we know that " nothing 
is impossible with God," and that he was able to keep his servant alive even 
in such a strange place as this. 

For three days and three nights he was kept in his living prison, and was 
able to pray to God, and to know where he was. 

"The waters compassed me about," he said, "even to the soul; the 
depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with her bars was 
about me forever." 

Then he praised and thanked God, for he knew that he meant to save 
him. And when the Lord spoke to the fish, it threw Jonah out upon the dry 
land. 

The second time Jonah heard the voice of the Lord telling him to go to 
Nineveh and preach the words that should be given him to say, and this time 
he obeyed. 

It was a long journey to Nineveh, and when Jonah reached it he found 
that the city was so great that it would take three days to walk around the 
walls. 




JONAH THROWN ON THE DRY LAND. 



124 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

The walls were a hundred feet high. And so broad that three chariots 
could be driven on them side by side. The walls had fifteen hundred 
towers, each two hundred feet high. Inside the walls lived hundreds of thou- 
sands of people, many of them rich merchants or princes and nobles who lived 
in palaces, and thought only of their own pleasure and glory. They had 
grown very selfish and wicked. 

When Jonah had walked a day's journey into the city, he began to cry in 
the streets the message God had given him, 

"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown ! " 

The people began to tremble and be afraid of the strange voice that went 
up and down the long streets crying out these terrible words. They began 
to believe in Jonah's God, and to repent. 

They repented in the eastern way, by putting on a garment of coarse sack- 
cloth, and sitting in ashes. All did this, even to the king, who took off his 
beautiful robes and sat down in ashes before the Lord. He also proclaimed 
a fast to all the people, and urged them to " turn every one from their evil 
way." 

When the Lord saw that they turned away from their sins, for He could 
look into their hearts, and read all their thoughts, He was satisfied, and said 
he would not destroy Nineveh. 

But Jonah, who could not read the hearts of men, was not satisfied. He 
was very angry. He wanted to have the Ninevites see that he was a true 
prophet, for if no destruction came upon them he feared that they might call 
him a false prophet. So he complained to God, and said, 

" Now, O Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me, for it is better to 
die than to live !" 

The Lord's gentle word to Jonah was, 

" Doest thou well to be angry ?" 

Jonah went outside the city walls, and made for himself a little house of 
the branches of trees and waited to see if the city would be destroyed. It 
was very hot and Jonah was deeply troubled, and the Lord, who is full of 
love and pity for His children, caused a gourd vine with large leaves to spring 
up and grow over the dried branches of the little house that sheltered Jonah, 
and he was very glad and grateful. But the Lord, who always looks upon 
the heart, saw that the heart of Jonah was not yet wholly right, and the next 
morning he allowed a worm to eat the gourd until it withered. Then the sun 



ESTHER, THE QUEEN. 125 

beat down upon Jonah's head until he fainted and wished to die, saying, as 
he had said before, 

" It is better for me to die than live !" 

But the Lord was patient with him, and said, 

" Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?" 

And Jonah replied ungraciously, 

" I do well to be angry, even unto death." 

Then the Lord in his love and pity answered, 

" Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, 
neither madest it grow ; which came up in a night and perished in a night; 
and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six- 
score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their 
left hand, and also much cattle ?" 

Jonah did not know all that was in the mind of the Lord, though he was 
a prophet. He did not know that he was one of the signs of the Lord's first 
coming, for Jesus spoke of Jonah as a " sign," that as he was three days and 
three nights within the great fish " so shall the Son of man be three days and 
three nights in the heart of the earth." 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ESTHER, THE QUEEN. 

About five hundred years before Christ King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) 
reigned over Persia. In the third yeai of his reign he gave a royal feast 
to all the princes and nobles of Persia and Media, in Shushan, the royal city. 
It lasted one hundred and eighty days, and was very costly, for the king 
wished to show the great men from all his provinces the riches and glory 
of his kingdom and of his palace. 

At the end of these days he made another feast to all who were in 
Shushan, a feast of seven days, and which included great and small. The 
palace garden was hung with awnings of white and green and violet, fastened 
with cords and silver rings to pillars of marble. 

Wine was given to the guests in golden cups as they sat on couches 
of gold and silver, and the pavement of the court was of many colored 
marbles. 



126 . CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

In another part of the palace Vashti, the queen, also made a feast for 
the women. 

On the seventh day the king sent his seven chamberlains to bring Queen 
Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown. He wished to show to his 
people and princes the beauty of the queen, for she was very fair to look upon. 

But the queen refused to obey the king's command, and he was 
angry. He asked the seven princes who stood next to him in the kingdom 
what he should do, and what the laws of the Medes and Persians (which 
could not be broken) would say in such a case. 

The princes did not speak of any law, but one of them told the king that 
the conduct of Vashti would do them great harm through all the kingdom, 
for women hearing of the act of the queen, would despise and disobey their 
husbands. They advised, therefore, that a commandment should go forth 
from the king and be written among the laws of the Medes and Persians, 
that Vashti should no more come before the king, and that her royal estate 
should be given to another better than she. 

This pleased the king, and he did as Memucan, the prince, had advised, 
and he sent letters into all parts of his empire to people of various languages, 
that every man should rule in his own house. 

Then the king's servants, the nobles, advised the king to send officers 
to every part of his kingdom to find some one worthy to take the place of 
Queen Vashti, and the plan pleased the king, and he did so. 

There was in Shushan a Jew named Mordecai, who had been brought 
away from Jerusalum with the captives when Nebuchadnezzar conquered 
the city. He had an adopted daughter named Hadassah. This was her true 
name, although the Persians called her Esther. She was the daughter of 
Mordecai's uncle, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her 
for his own. She was very beautiful, and as good as she was beautiful, for 
Mordecai had taught her to be faithful to the true God, though living among 
a strange people. 

When Mordecai heard that the king was seeking for a maiden worthy to 
be a queen through all his provinces, he brought Esther and placed her in 
care of Hegai, who had the care of that part of the king's house where the 
women lived. Hegai was very kind to her, and gave her seven maids to 
serve her, and the best place in the house for her own. 

Mordecai had told Esther not to speak of her Jewish family, but every 
day he walked before the court of the women's house to ask how she did and 
what had become of her. 



ESTHER, THE QUEEN. 127 

Out of all the maidens brought from the city and the kingdom Esther 
was chosen by the king to be queen in the place of Vashti, and he placed the 
royal crown upon her head, and proclaimed a great feast that he called 
Esther's feast, when he gave gifts and made a holiday for all the people to 
rest and be happy in all his provinces. 

Mordecai sat daily at the king's gate, and once while there he heard of a 
plot to kill the king by two of his chamberlains, and he sent word secretly to 
Esther, and she told the king in Mordecai's name, so that these two men were 
hanged, and the account of it was written in the king's book of records. 

About this time the king gave great honors to a man named Haman. He 
set him above all his princes, and when the king's servants who- were at his 
gate knew it they all bowed down and gave great honor to Haman, when- 
ever he passed, for the king had so commanded them; but Mordecai would 
not bow to Haman. When Haman saw this he was full of anger toward 
Mordecai the Jew, and he made a wicked plan to destroy not only Mordecai, 
but all his people. 

So he came with wily ways and cunning speech to the king, saying, 

" There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the 
people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from 
from all people, neither keep they the king's laws, therefore it is not for the 
king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king let it be written that they be 
destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those 
that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries." 

Then the king gave his ring to Haman as a sign that he would pledge 
his word to do what he asked, and said, 

"The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it 
seemeth good to thee." 

Then Haman had letters written and sealed with the king's seal ring, 
saying to the rulers of every province in the kingdom that all Jews, both 
young and old, throughout the kingdom, must be destroyed in one day, and 
their goods, and money, and lands be taken for a prey, and the thirteenth day 
of the twelfth month was set in which to destroy them. 

After the messengers were sent out the king and Haman sat down to 
drink wine, but the city was troubled. 

Then Mordecai rent his clothes in sign of mourning, and went out into 
the streets of the city clothed in sack-cloth uttering a loud and bitter cry. He 
cried even before the king's gate. 



128 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

All through the kingdom there was great mourning among the Jews, and 
they fasted and wept in sack-cloth and ashes. 

When Esther heard that Mordecai was clothed in sack-cloth she was 
■deeply grieved, and sent some garments to clothe him, but he would not 
receive them. Then she sent for the king's chamberlain Hatach, and gave 
him a command to Mordecai to tell what caused his grief. 

Hatach found him at the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had 
happened to him, and of the great sum of money that Haman had promised 
to pay into the king's treasuries for the Jews to destroy them. He also gave 
liim a copy of the decree to show Esther, and told Hatach to charge her that 
she go before the king and make request for her people. 

Hatach took these words to Esther, and Esther sent a reply by Hatach, 
saying that it was known in all the king's palace that no man or woman could 
come into the king's presence in the inner court who had not been called, and 
for any who so entered there was but one law, and that was that they be put 
to death, unless the king hold out to them the golden sceptre. She had not 
been called to see the king, she said, in thirty days. 

Hatach gave this message to Mordecai, and he again sent word to Esther 
that she could not hope to escape the decree, as she too was of the Jews. He 
told her that deliverance must come to the Jews in some other way, but 
she and her family would be destroyed, and then he added, 

" Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time 
as this? " 

Then Esther made her resolve, and sent word to Mordecai to gather all 
the Jews in Shushan together to fast night and day, while she and her 
maidens fasted also. 

"And so I will go in unto the king," she said, "which is not according 
to the law, and if I perish, I perish." 

And Mordecai went his way and did as Esther had commanded. 

It was the third day when Esther arose from her fast before the Lord 
and put on her beautiful royal robes and stood in the inner court of the 
king's house in sight of the royal throne. 

When the king saw Esther standing in the inner court he was not dis- 
pleased, but his heart was turned toward her, and he held out to her the 
golden sceptre that was in his hand. 

"What wilt thou, Queen Esther?" he said, "and what is thy request? 
it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom." 




HAMAN DENOUNCED BY THE QUEEN, 



13^ CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

"If it seem good unto the king," said Esther, "let the king and Haman 
come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him." 

So the king commanded Haman, and they came to the queen's banquet. 
The kinor knew that Esther had a favor to ask of him, so he said agrain : 

"What is thy petition ? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy 
request ? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed." 

But Esther was wise. She begged as her petition and request that the 
king and Haman would come to the banquet she should prepare the next 
day also, and she would then do as the king had said. 

Haman went home very happy and proud that he had been so honored 
by the queen, and told his wife and his friends of all the glory and honor that 
had come to him. 

"Yet all this availeth me nothing," he said, "so long as I see Mordecai 
the Jew sitting at the king's gate." 

Then his wife and his friends urged him to build a high gallows and ask 
the king on the next day to hang Mordecai upon it. "Then go thou merrily 
with the king unto the banquet," they added. 

This pleased Haman, and he ordered the gallows to be made. 

That night the king was restless, and he could not sleep, and he com- 
manded that the book of records be brought and read aloud to him. Then he 
found that it was written that Mordecai had saved the king's life when it was 
threatened by his two chamberlains. 

"What honor and dignity hath been done to Moreecai for this ? " he 
asked, and his servants replied : 

"There is nothing done for him." 

"Who is in the court?" cried the king. Now Haman had come in to 
speak to the king to have Mordecai hanged. 

" Haman standeth in the court," -said the king's servants, and the king 
said, 

" Let him come in." 

As Haman came in the king said, 

" What shall be done to the man that the king delighteth to honor? " 

Haman thought in his heart, " To whom would the king delight to do 
honor more than to myself," and then he replied, thinking all the time of 
himself. 

" For the man whom the king delighteth to honor let the royal apparel 
be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth 
upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head, and let this apparel 



ESTHER, THE QUEEN. 131 

and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble 
princes, that they may array the men withal whom the king delighteth to 
honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and pro- 
claim before him, ' Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth 
to honor.' " 

Then the king said, " Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse as 
thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai, the Jew, that sitteth at the king's 
gate ; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken." 

Haman did as he was commanded, for he could do nothing else, and 
after it was all over Mordecai took his place again at the king's gate, but 
Haman hastened home mourning, and with his head covered. 

The next day he came to the queen's banquet with the king, and again 
the king said, 

" What is thy petition, Queen Esther ? and it shall be granted thee ; and 
what is thy request ? and it shall be performed, even to the half of my king- 
dom. " 

Then the queen made her request, saying, 

"If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let 
my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request ; for we are 
sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we 
had been sold for. bondmen and bondwomen I had held my tongue, although 
the enemy could not countervail the king's damage." 

"Who is he, and where is he," cried the king, "That durst presume in 
his heart to do so ?" 

Then Esther said, " The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman," 

Haman was overcome with fear at this, and the king was so angry that 
he rose up and went out into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make 
a plea for his life, and when the king came in he found Haman fallen at 
the queen's feet. 

One of the king's chamberlains who knew what the king wished told him 
of the gallows at Haman's house that had been made for Mordecai, and 
the king said, " Hang him thereon," and they did so, and the king's anger 
was pacified. 

That day the king gave Haman's house to the queen. Mordecai came 
before the king that day also, for Esther had told him how he was related to 
her, and the King gave to Mordecai the ring that he had once given to 
Haman. Esther's petition was not yet finished, so she fell down at the king's 



132 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

feet and asked for the life of her people, and that the decree might be 
changed. 

Then the king held out his golden sceptre to Esther, and she arose. 
She spoke noble words of petition for her people, and the king told Mordecai 
to write in the king's name and seal with the king's seal letters that should 
make the decree void. 

So the scribes were called in and the letters were written and sealed 
with the king's ring, and sent out to every province in the kingdom. 

Mordecai went out of the palace that day clothed in royal garments of 
violet and white, fine linen and purple, and a great crown of gold upon his 
head, and there was joy in Shushan, and there was joy among the jews all 
over the land. They hanged the ten sons of Haman, and destroyed their 
enemies by the king's permission, so that they had rest from persecution. 
They also set apart two days for a feast of thanksgiving through all time, 
and the feast of Purim is kept by all Jews to this day, as it was first con- 
firmed by the decree of Esther. 

And Mordecai was next to the king and honored by his brethren the 
Jews as long as he lived, for he always sought their peace, and was as a father 
to them. 



CHILD'S 



STORY OF THE BIBLE 



THE NEW TESTAMENT 



K .y:: ^g^ T^^^l^JXg ^g:^^ 




THE HOLY CHILD AND THE WISE MEN, 



CHILD'S Story of the Bible 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ANGELS OF THE ADVENT. 

THERE was an old priest named Zacharias, who lived in the hill country 
of Hebron, where Abraham the father of the Jewish people used to 
live. He went to Jerusalem when it was his turn to serve in the temple, and 
once while he was offering the incense of sweet spices on the golden altar, 
he saw through the rising smoke an angel standing on the right side of the 
altar. The good priest was frightened, but the angel said, 

"Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard," and he promised that to 
him and his wife Elizabeth should be born a little son, whose name should be 
John. He was coming to prepare the way for the Messiah, and must not 
drink wine or strong drink, for he was to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

It was too wonderful for Zacharias to believe, and when he went out of 
the temple he was dumb, and all the people who waited for him knew that 
he had seen a vision. He did not speak while he stayed to minister in the 
temple, and when his time of service was ended he went to his home in 
Hebron. 

A few months later the angel Gabriel went to the little town of Nazareth, 
high up among the hills of Galilee, and spoke to a young girl named Mary. 
She had never seen an angel, and she also was afraid when he said to her, 

" Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art 
thou among women. Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God." 
And then he told her that she should become the mother of a Holy Child, 
who should also be the Son of the Highest, and a King whose kingdom should 
have no end, and His name should be Jesus, He also told her of her 
cousin Elizabeth away in Hebron, to whom a little son was promised. 

Then Mary said these beautiful words to the angel : 

8 (135) 



136 CHILD'S STROY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Behold the hand-maid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to Thy 
word," and the angel went away into heaven. 

Mary was so full of wonder at the angel's words that she set out on a 
journey to see Elizabeth. It was eighty miles to Hebron, but it was early 
summer, and as Mary went through the green valleys and fruitful plains, and 
along by the flowing Jordan, she thought about the angel's words, and 
prayed to God to make her good and wise. She was not afraid, though the 
journey was four days long, for she knew God was with her. 

On the fourth day she passed Jerusalem, the Holy City, and went on 
and up into the Hebron Hills to the house of Elizabeth. When they told to 
each other the wonderful words of the angel Gabriel they were full of joy, 
for they knew that the coming of the Christ was near, and that the Lord 
had trusted them with the heavenly secret. They were filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and Mary broke out into a beautiful song of praise. 

Mary stayed three months with her cousin Elizabeth, and learned many 
things, for the old priest and his wife were wise and good. When she went 
back to Nazareth she told no one of her vision, not even her mother or 
Joseph, the good carpenter, whose promised wife she was. But the angel 
came one night to Joseph and spoke to him through a dream of the Holy 
Child that was to be born. 

Now Joseph and Mary were of the family of King David, and they knew 
that the prophets had long ago talked of a King who was to come and restore the 
kingdom, and reign on the throne of David. They even told where he was to 
be born, in Bethlehem, the " City of David." And though the Jews had 
become the servants of the Romans, yet it was time, according to the promise, 
that the new King should come and set them free, and many were looking for 
His coming. 

Perhaps Joseph and Mary thought of these things when the time came 
for them to go to Bethlehem, for the Emperor of Rome had made a decree 
that all Jews should be enrolled, that he might know how many were in his 
empire. So all Jews, who had gone to live in other parts, returned to their 
own tribe and city to be enrolled among their own people. 

When Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem they found it full of people 
who had also come home to write their names for the Emperor, and there was 
no room for them in the inn. It was winter, and while Joseph wondered what 
he should do the keeper of the inn showed them the stable where the gentle 
oxen and asses were kept, and where it was much quieter than in the noisy 
yard and crowded rooms of the inn. 



THE ANGELS OF THE ADVENT. 137 

It was here in a humble stable that the Lord of Heaven was born upon 
earth, and cradled in a manger. He chose the stable instead of a palace, and 
a bed of straw instead of a bed of down, for He had come to be the Brother 
of the poor and the Saviour of the world. 

Out in the fields near by were some shepherds watching their flocks. It 
has been said that the flocks kept in the Bethlehem fields were for the sacri- 
fices in the temple, and were watched night and day the year long, while other 
flocks were kept in their folds in winter. 

While they sat on the rocks, wrapped in their cloaks and sheepskin 
jackets, with a fire of brushwood to keep the beasts away, perhaps they 
thought of young David, who once kept his sheep there, and killed a lion and 
a bear to defend his flock ; or they watched the stars and wondered at their 
beauty. 

But suddenly an angel stood by them, and a great light shone round 
about them, and they were terrified. But the angel spoke kindly to them 
saying : — 

" Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall 
be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour 
which is Christ the Lord." And the angel told them how they would know it 
to be the Holy Child — because it lay in a manger. Then, in a moment the 
air was full of angel faces, and heavenly voices sang this song of praise to 
God and promise to all people : — 

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men!" And they went away into heaven. 

The shepherds looked at one another and then one said ; " Let us go to 
Bethlehem." And they went in great haste. There they found Mary and 
Joseph with the Holy Child lying in a manger, just as the angel had said. 
They told the people of Bethlehem about the angels they had seen and the 
words they had heard, and they were very much astonished. But Mary was 
silent, and kept all these things in her heart to think about and to pray about. 

As for the shepherds they went back to their flocks praising God. 

When the Holy Child was eight days old his parents called His name 
Jesus, as the angel had commanded, and they dedicated him to the Lord. 
Later they took him up to the Temple at Jerusalem to make the offering that 
all Jewish mothers made, some money, if it was the first boy-child, and a 
lamb, or a pair of doves. Joseph bought for Mary a pair of doves, and they 
went up the white steps of the beautiful porch of the Temple, and passed 
the long rows of marble pillars into the court of the Gentiles where they 



138 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

could look up and see the Temple itself with its white marble pillars and 
golden roof shining in the sun, 

Mary gave her doves to the Priest at the gate of the Court of the 
Women, and he took them away to be offered on the altar, while Joseph 
took the Holy Child into the Men's Court for the Priest to bless as he dedi- 
cated Him to the Lord. When all was done and they were going away, an 
old man named Simeon saw them, and begged to hold the child. He was a 
good man who had longed to see the Christ who was to come, and now the 
Spirit of God told him that this was He. He thanked God, and said : 

" Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy 
word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." 

He also spoke as a prophet of the days to come, and just then a very 
old woman who lived in the Temple, Anna, the prophetess, came and gave 
thanks to God, and told the people that the Redeemer had come to Israel. 
All these things Mary kept in her heart, as she had kept the words of the 
angel, and wondered why she had been chosen to be the mother of the Holy 
Child. 

Seven months before this time a little son had been born to Zacharias 
and Elizabeth. The neighbors wished to name him for his father, but Eliza- 
beth said, " Not so ; but he shall be called John." When they asked his 
father what it should be, he wrote an answer (for he had been dumb ever 
since he talked with the angel in the Temple) and they read, " His name 
shall be called John." Then his mouth was opened, and he began to speak 
and to praise God, and his friends wondered what the child would be when 
he grew to manhood. His father became a prophet for a time, and said 
some strange things about him that were written down. He said that John 
should be called a prophet of the Highest, and go before the Lord to prepare 
His ways. 

John grew, and he also grew strong in spirit, and while he was yet 
young he went to live in the deserts where he was taught of God to be a 
prophet and a preacher. 



CHAPTER II. 

FOLLOWING THE STAR. 

While Joseph and Mary and the Holy Child were still staying in Bethle- 
hem, some Wise Men came from and Eastern country to Jerusalem, asking, 

" Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen His Star 
in the East, and are come to worship Him." 

No one knows who these men were, but it may be that they were Jews 
who lived in Persia, as David had done long before, and were learned in all 
the wisdom of the Chaldeans, who studied the stars, and believed that they 
had much to do with the lives of people on the earth. These wise men were 
called Magi. They had heard that a great One would be born about this 
time, and that He would be the King of the Jews. 

When they saw a strange and beautiful Star near the earth away toward 
Jerusalem they prepared to go and see if it would lead them to the King. 
Their servants loaded the camels with food and water and some costly gifts, 
for they were rich men, and mounted on beautiful saddles covered with blue 
and crimson cloth they rode away toward Jerusalem. They had deserts of 
yellow sand to cross, and they were tired at the end of the hot day, but at 
night they saw the beautiful Star shining before them low in the sky, and 
watched it from their tents on the sand where they rested for the night, and 
rose to follow it before it faded in the morning. They were glad when they 
came to the fresh green mountain country of the Jews, and rode through the 
flowery valleys till they came to the gates of Jerusalem. Perhaps they 
expected to hear all about the new King, and to find the people feasting and 
rejoicing, but they did not. 

When they asked, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? " the 
people were surprised, and only wondered who these men were who looked 
liked princes from a foreign court, for they had armed servants, and from their 
camels hung tinkling silver bells, and swinging tassels of silk and gold. 

They searched Jerusalem for the king, and Herod heard of it and was 
troubled. He wished always to be king himself He set the scribes to 
searching for the prophecies of the Messiah's birth. They knew very well 
where to find them, and they read to the king these words from the prophet 

Micah : — 

(139) 




FOLLOWING THE STAR. 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 141 

" But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, which art little among the families of 
Judah, out of thee shall One come forth unto me that is to be the ruler of 
Israel ; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days." 

Then the king sent for the wise men, for he had a secret plan. They 
came in their best robes, hoping perhaps, to find the newly born King in the 
beautiful palace of Herod on Mount Zion, but they found only the gloomy 
old King Herod waiting for them. He asked them when they first saw the 
Star, and when they had told him, he sent them to Bethlehem and said, 

" Go and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found 
him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also." 

They were very glad to hear about Bethlehem, and as they came down the 
marble steps of Herod's palace it was evening, and there, low down before 
them in the sky was the Star ! They went out through the Bethlehem gate 
toward the south, and followed the Star again over the hills until the white 
walls of Bethlehem shown in the moonlight before them, and they saw the 
Star standing still and shining down upon a little house within the walls. 
Then they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, for they had come to the end 
of their long journey, and they had found the King ! When they came to 
the house where Mary and Joseph were staying they told their servants to 
unpack the presents of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh, and they went in. 
Then they found the lovely young mother and the Holy Child, and they fell 
down before Him and offered their gifts. 

They did not go away at once. They slept in Bethlehem that night, and 
the Lord showed them in a dream that they must not go back to tell King 
Herod that they had found the Christ. They told Joseph of their dream, and 
went away by another road that led past Hebron to their own country. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

It seems very strange that in a few hours after the wise men had gone 
over the hills to their own country, that Mary and Joseph and the Holy Child 
should be swiftly following the same road. The night after the wise men had 
been warned in a dream to go to their own country, Joseph was warned also 




THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 143 

in a dream to take the young Child and His mother and go into Egypt. He 
was told to stay until he had orders to return, for Herod would seek to take 
the Child's life. Their flight was in the night, and Mary's heart beat fast as 
she held her baby close and rode down the steep path from Bethlehem with 
Joseph walking beside her. They did not rest until they were far on their 
way. It was nearly a week before they reached the river that was the border 
of Egypt, but when they crossed it King Herod's soldiers could not harm 
them. 

They had gold that the wise men had given them, and Joseph knew how 
to make many things of wood, so they lived quietly in Egypt waiting until the 
Lord should call them back. 

Herod was very angry when he heard that the Magi had gone away 
without telling him anything about the young King ; so angry that he ordered 
his soldiers to destroy every baby boy in Bethlehem. So all the little boys of 
Bethlehem under two years of age were killed by the order of this wicked 
king, and the Holy Child whom Herod believed would be destroyed with 
them was safely borne in His mother's arms along the road to Egypt, while 
Joseph walked beside them and led the patient ass, and angels went with 
them unseen to be their guard by night and by day. 

They lived in Egypt about a year, and then the sick and unhappy old 
king died, and an angel came to Joseph one night in a dream, and said, 

"Arise and take the young Child and His mother and go into the land 
of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young Child's life." 

They were glad to know that they could come home again, and they 
came, perhaps with a company of merchants, into their own land. Joseph 
would have settled in Judea, the part of the land of Israel in which stands 
Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, the city of his ancestors, but Herod's son had 
been made king over Judea, and Joseph was told in a dream to go into 
Galilee. 

In Galilee was Nazareth, where both Joseph and Mary lived when they 
were married, and there they went and were at home again, and there Jesus 
grew to manhood. 





IN HIS FATHER'S HOUSE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BOY OF NAZARETH. 

Nazareth was a little town high among the hills of Galilee. It still stands 
there, but it is not so large a town as it was when Mary and Joseph and the 
Child Jesus lived there. Then Galilee was full of cities and villages, and men 
and women were busy among its fields, and vineyards, and gardens, and the 
shores of the beautiful Lake of Galilee were lined with the boats of fishermen. 

Nazareth was more quiet than the crowded cities by the Lake. A great 
green plain lay below it, and a narrow road winding among the limestone rocks 
led up to it. Its streets were narrow and steep, and steps of stone led from house 
to house. A fountain of pure water breaking out of a rock was the meeting 
place of the women of Nazareth, who came with their tall pitchers for water 
and bore them away upon their heads. Here Mary often came tenderly lead- 
ing the Holy Child. Perhaps He gathered the bright wild flowers that grew 
thick around the fountain and along the stream flowing from it. When he 
grew a little older He could climb the rocks around His home, or go with 
His mother and Joseph to the top of the hill from which they could see 
the snowy peak of Hermon, or the long line of shining blue sea beyond the 
hills on the west, or they would point out a slowly moving caravan of heavy- 
laden camels from Tyre and Sidon by the sea on their way to Damascus. 

Sometimes He would go with Joseph to the woods when a certain piece 
of wood was needed, for Joseph was a carpenter, and in a lower room of his 
humble house of rough white stone there was a long bench and the tools of a 
wood-worker. Here, perhaps, the Holy Child played with the curled shavings 
that fell from the bench, and watched the making of the plows, the yokes, the 
doors, and the lattices until He was old enough to help in the making of them. 

He learned to read and write while a young child at home, as Jewish 
children did, and His reading book was the Old Testament, which was the 
Jews' Bible. Then He went to school at the Synagogue, which was the Jews' 
Church, and there, we may be sure. He was a gentle, obedient pupil, and a 
loving, unselfish playmate. While he read He may have had many strange 
thoughts about the prophecies in the Book that were promises of the Messiah, 
the King that was to reign in righteousness. 

(145) 



146 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

When He was twelve years old His parents took Him with them to the 
Feast of the Passover at Jerusalem. Great companies of people went from 
all parts of the Jews' country, and from every country in which they had settled, 
to keep the feast that the Lord had commanded when they were led out of 
Egypt. The very journey to Jerusalem was a festival, for their friends joined 
the company from almost every house in Nazareth, and on horses, and 
camels, and asses, the men walking beside them, a happy group set forth 
from home to keep the Passover week in the city of the great King. It was 
the first visit of the boy Jesus to Jerusalem, and as He walked strong and 
beautiful beside Joseph, what tender and holy thoughts, what questions about 
the future must have filled the mind of Mary. He was going to see His 
Father's House, the beautiful Temple where the thousands of Israel 
gathered every year for worship and of which He had read in the Book of 
the Law, for He was now old enough to be called a " Son of the Law," and 
verses from the Bible folded in little boxes, had been tied upon his arm and 
his forehead by the village Rabbi, as a sign that He was old enough to think 
for Himself and go to the religious Feasts at Jerusalem. 

When they reached the great public roads they found other companies 
of pilgrims going up to the Holy City, and by their banners they knew the 
tribe and city from which they came. There was music, also, of timbrel and 
pipe and drum as the songs of Zion were sung along the way, or at evening 
when they camped in the fields. 

When they had climbed the steep Jericho road and the Mount of Olives, 
a glorious sight opened before them. There lay the City of David shining in 
the sun, its thick walls set with towers ; its marble palaces, and castles, and 
gardens, and, most wonderful of all, the Temple with its hundreds of white 
marble pillars, its beautiful porches and arches, and, rising within its richly- 
paved courts, the Holy Place with the sun like fire upon its roof of gold. 
The people shouted and sang a song of joy. Perhaps they sang that song of 
David beginning : 

"I was glad when they said unto me 
' Let us go into the house of the Lord, ' 
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, 
O Jerusalem ! ' ' 

Like thousands of others they pitched their tents outside of the walls, 
perhaps on the slopes of Olivet, and after eating the Passover supper 
together went daily into the Temple. To the Boy of Nazareth this must 
have been the one charmed spot in all Jerusalem. Other boys loved to 



THE BOY OF NAZARETH. 147 

watch the strange people from far countries, and wander among the bazars, 
but Jesus stayed in the Temple. He saw the white-robed priests, the altars, 
and the sacrifices ; He saw the great curtains of purple and gold that hid the 
Holy place, and He heard the Temple choirs answer each other in song ; He 
also saw the old Rabbis who taught and answered questions daily in the 
outer courts, and stood long among the listeners. 

When the company from Nazareth began the Journey home, and had 
gone as far as the plains of Jericho, Mary looked for her boy. She had not 
been troubled about him, for she thought He was walking with the other chil- 
dren, or with relatives, but when Joseph found that he was not with them they 
went back over the long, steep road full of fear and anxiety. They searched 
Jerusalem through, asking everybody they knew if they had seen the Boy 
Jesus. 

When they had been searching for three days, and Mary's heart was 
almost broken, they went again to the Temple, and looking through a crowd 
gathered around the Rabbis, Mary saw her Boy. She pressed through to 
speak to Him, but He was speaking. She listened, and her heart must have 
stood still to hear His simple, yet wonderful words. Sometimes he asked 
questions which the old teachers could not answer, and when he replied to the 
questions of the learned teachers His wisdom astonished all who heard Him, 
for it was not like the wisdom of the Rabbis, who used many words to ex- 
plain the Word of God, 

When Jesus saw His mother and came to her, she said, 

" Son, why hast Thou so dealt with us ? Behold thy father and I have 
sought Thee sorrowing." 

" How is it that ye sought me?" He said, "wist ye not that I must be 
about my Father's business?" 

They did not quite understand how He could so easily forget them, and 
yet Mary, perhaps, remembered that the angel had told her that He should 
"be called the Son of God," and that He was at home in His Father's house. 

But He was content to go home and be subject to His parents, so that 
through all the world children may learn how He lived, and try to live like 
Him. 

He found that His Father's house was greater than the Temple, and 
under its starry roof, and wandering over its wide courts paved with grass 
and flowers. He learned more than the Rabbis could teach Him. And every 
day He grew in wisdom as He grew in stature, and "in favor with God and 
man." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE YOUNG CARPENTER. 

There are many years of the life of Jesus of which the Gospel story tells 
us nothing. He lived with Mary and Joseph in Nazareth, and was preparing 
for the great work for which He came. He learned easily all that other boys 
were taught in the synagogue school, and no doubt caused His teacher to 
wonder at such wisdom coming from a boy. He was so humble and teach- 
able that no one could accuse Him of setting Himself above His companions, 
and so winning and unselfish that He was loved by all. The school days 
ended, perhaps, when He was fourteen, and He was asked, as every Jewish 
boy was asked, to choose what trade He would learn, for every boy had to 
learn a trade. He chose to learn the trade of His father, and began to work 
with him making the many things that were then used by the people. Few 
houses, if any, were made of wood, for the white limestone was then, as now, 
used in making the houses of Nazareth, but they were finished with wood, 
and wood was used not only for boats, tables, benches, yokes and carts, but 
also for plows, saddles, and many things we now make of other material 
Can you make a picture in your mind of this tall, beautiful youth standing 
near His father ready to serve in any humble way in the work they were 
doing ? 

There was no service so small that He did not willingly do it, and no 
labor so rough and common that He did not make it noble and beautiful by 
the doing. But He was always thinking — thinking. The world around Him 
was full of pictures and stories through which heavenly truths shone, and they 
formed themselves in His mind, and when He began to teach He used them 
to help others with. We call them parables. Wherever He saw the flowers, 
the grape vines, the olive and the fig trees, the wheat fields, the shepherds 
and their flocks, the fishermen and their nets. He read high and holy lessons 
that were much more simple, and true, and beautiful than those taught by the 
Rabbis. 

The more He thought about the teaching of the Rabbis, the more He 

saw how talse and hard it was. The Law given by Moses was full of the 

good thoughts of God, but the Jewish teachers had only taught the outward 

form, and had not given the people the inward spirit. It was like bringing to 
(148) 



THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS. 149 

the hungry a beautiful dish with no food in it, or to the thirsty a costly cup 
with no water in it. 

As He grew older He would sit sometimes long into the night on some 
hillside watching the stars, and with his great heart going out beyond the hills 
to the people of the world in longing love and in desire for their salvation. 
He wanted to show them how God loved the world. He wanted to 
take the empty forms of the Law and fill them full of the Spirit — the real 
thought and love of God. He wanted to take away the burdens on the minds 
of the people, which were heavier than those that Pharoah laid upon their 
bodies long before, and give them the rest and peace of God. He wanted to 
take away their endless rules and give them one rule — to do by others as they 
would have others do to them. And He wanted to add a new Commandment 
to the Law — that they love one another. 

In this way, by living with His mind in heaven and His body on earth He 
came to know that He was the Christ of God, and that He must go out from 
Nazareth to be a Teacher of Truth, and begin to build The Kingdom of 
Heaven among men. But His friends thought that He was fitted to be a 
Rabbi and teach in the Temple with the Doctors of the Law. He waited many 
years, caring for His mother and His younger brothers and sisters after the 
death of Joseph, and then He left Nazareth. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS. 

Jesus was thirty years of age when He left Nazareth to begin His work 
as a Teacher of the Truth. It was the age set by the older teachers for a 
young man to begin his work. 

His cousin John, the son of Elizabeth and Zachariah, was six months 
older than Jesus, and he had begun his ministry on the lower Jordan. 
While Jesus had been living quietly at Nazareth preparing for his work, 
John had been away in the wilderness beyond the Dead Sea alone with 
the Spirit of God. He was a prophet who could be taught by God only. 
When his time to speak came he came out of the wilderness to a place 
on the banks of the Jordan, just above Jericho, called The Fords. Many 



ISO CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

people crossed at this place, and he stood on a bank above the river crying, 
" Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." 

Like those who had made a vow to the Lord, John had never cut his 
hair, he wore a coarse garment woven of camel's hair, and lived on the simple 
food of the wilderness — locusts and wild honey. He seemed never to think 
of himself, but always of One who was coming. He said that he was only 
a "Voice," preparing the way for the Messiah, as Isaiah had prophesied cen- 
turies before, and the " Messenger" that had been promised through Malachi- 

" Behold I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before 
me." 

He did something which seemed new and strange to the people. He 
called them to a change of mind — a turning away from sin, and, as a sign that 
they had done so, he baptized them in the river Jordan. He was getting the 
people ready for the coming of Christ, who was to begin the Kingdom of 
Heaven on earth. 

Thousands were flocking down to the river to hear the new prophet. 
They went from all parts of Palestine, and Jesus, knowing that his hour had 
come, went also. He wore a white tunic gathered at the neck and reaching 
to his feet, and on it the large blue mantle of thick stuff that was worn in 
cold weather, for it was in the winter of the year 31. 

We cannot know all about His parting with His mother, and the three 
days' journey to the Fords of Jordan, but we know that He came and stood 
with others on the banks while John preached. 

On this day John's words were different. He had said that the Christ 
was coming, but to-day he said, 

"There standeth One among you whom ye know not, whose shoe's 
latchet I am not worthy to unloose." 

After this Jesus came down to the water's edge to be baptized, and John, 
though he had not seen Jesus since he was a young boy, knew Him. Ready 
to fall at His feet, John cried, 

" I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest thou to me ?" 

Jesus replied in a low voice, 

" Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteous- 
ness," and so reverently John baptized his Master. 

As Jesus stepped from the water's edge to the river bank a strange and 
beautiful thing happened. Out of the warm, blue sky a white dove came 
circling down around the head of Jesus, who stood silent in prayer. With 
eyes lifted to heaven He saw the dove, which was the form in which the 




JOHN THE BAPTIST AT JORDAN. 



152 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Spirit of God descended upon Him, and John saw it also, and both heard 
a voice from heaven saying, 

" Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!' 

This was the answer to Jesus' prayer. Only Jesus and John understood 
the meaning of these words, for they heard with the spirit. To others it 
seemed like thunder out of a clear sky, and they were full of wonder about 
the strange young man who had been baptized with such a beautiful and 
singular sign following. They also remembered what John had said, that the 
Christ was now standing among them, and perhaps this was he ! And they 
wondered what John meant when he said that though he baptized with 
water, the coming Christ would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with 
fire. 

It was of little use to wonder about the Messiah, however, unless they 
could remember and do all that John had said to them about being honest 
and true in their hearts, for that was the only way to prepare for the kingdom 
that was near at hand. He told the rich to share with the poor ; the people 
who handled money to be honest, and the soldiers to harm no one with word 
or hand, and to be contented with their wages. 

When they were willing to give up the sins that John showed them they 
took the sign of baptism from John, which meant that they wished to be 
washed from their sins, and begin life in a new way. 



CHAPTER VII. 

JESUS IN THE DESERT. 

The people were looking for the promised Messiah, and would have 
welcomed John as the Christ if John had not always said " One mightier than 
I cometh." "I am not the Christ." The sign of the Dove filled them with 
new thoughts. 

While they were thinking Jesus went up the river bank alone. The 
power of the spirit was upon Him, and His great work before Him, and He 
wished to go for a time as far as possible from every human being. He went 
into the wilderness — a wild desert country beyond the Dead Sea — not even 
wishing to talk with John, whose home was in the wilderness. Perhaps John 
looked after Him and longed to see and talk with Him, but Jesus had 



JESUS IN THE DESERT. 153 

one great desire, to know Himself, and what His work was to be. He felt 
two natures within Him, the human and the divine, and before He began to 
teach He wanted to hear the voice of the Divine within Him as clear and 
strong as He had heard it that day from the skies. 

The desert to which He went was not a waste of flat sand, like the 
African desert, but masses of rock with sand and dry grasses between, great 
cliffs of chalk and limestone rise a thousand feet above the gloomy gulfs of 
rock through which torrents run in the rainy season, but which are dry and 
oven-like in summer. One great cliff called Ouarantana is now full of caves 
cut out of the face of the rock by men who have hoped to win heaven by 
suffering as Jesus did. 

Jesus was thinking — thinking, His human nature being full of hopes, 
fears, and prayers ; His divine nature being full of strength, promise, com- 
fort. He did not think of food when He came, and there was none to be 
found. So resting at night in a cave, and wandering farther among the 
mountains by day, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness of Judea. While 
there He was tried by the spirit of evil in every way known to human na- 
ture, and when all was over, and He had not yielded to sin, His mind was 
calm and ready for His work, for He knew He was the Son of God. 

When He was hungry the tempter said, "If thou be the Son of God 
command this stone that it be made bread." 

It would have been easy for Him to try His power, but He knew that 
He did not come into the world to use it for Himself, but for others, and so 
He answered in the words of the Bible, 

"Thou shalt not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." 

Then in a vision He seemed to be in the Holy City upon a tower of the 
Temple that stood over a deep valley, and the tempter speaking within Him, 
said, 

"If Thou be the Son of God cast Thyself down, for it is written, 'He 
shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear 
thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' " 

But Jesus knew that though the words were the words of God, the voice 
was the voice of the tempter, and He answered, 

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 

Then in a vision again He seemed to see, from the top of a very high 
mountain, all the kingdoms of the world spread out before Him with their 
kings, and armies, and cities ; their beautiful homes and lovely women, and 
9 



154 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

great men with their gold, and jewels, and precious works of art, and the 
tempter said, 

. " AH these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." 

Then all the Divine power in Jesus rose up against this evil whisper, and 
He said, 

" Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written, ' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and Him only shalt thou serve.' " 

We shall never know all that Jesus suffered during this long time when 
He was away from His home in Nazareth, and away from every human being, 
tempted by evil, surrounded by wild beasts, and faint from hunger, but we 
know He won a great victory over evil for us. So he became the Elder 
Brother and Friend of all who are tempted. 

After His long fast and struggle with the powers of evil, angels came and 
cared for Him, bringing heavenly strength and comfort, and He rose in that 
strength and came again into the valley of Jordan, and found that spring 
had come while he had been in the desert, and the willows were green by the 
river side. John was still preaching and baptizing, but was a little farther up 
the river at Bethabara. 

As Jesus came near John pointed to Him and said to the people, 

" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 
This is He. . . . And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize 
with water, the same said to me, ' Upon whom thou shalt see the spirit 
descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the 
Holy Ghost.' " 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 

The next day while two men named John and Andrew were talking with 
John the Baptist, Jesus passed by, and again John said, " Behold the Lamb 
of God." These two men had been priests and disciples of John, but they 
turned and followed Jesus, and John was content to have them do so, for he 
sought no honor for himself, Jesus when he saw them following said, 

"What seek ye?" 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 155 

And they, hardly knowing what to say, and wishing very much to know 
Him, said, 

" Rabbi, where dwellest thou ?" 

He did not reprove them for giving Him the honored name of Master, 
but said, 

" Come and see." 

How gladly they went ! No one knows where or how He lived, but 
whether in a house, or in such a little tent as the people of that region now 
carry with them when they travel, it was a quiet place where these two men 
who were looking eagerly for the Kingdom of God could sit at the feet of 
Jesus and talk with Him. He was a young man like themselves, but there 
was a wonderful spirit in Him that made them feel like worshipping Him. 

The first thing that Andrew did was to go and find his brother, Simon 
Peter. They were both fishermen from Bethsaida on Lake Galilee, and had 
come down to hear the new prophet John. 

" We have found the Messiah ! " said Andrew, and they both went back 
to Jesus. 

When the Lord — for this He had been always — saw Simon Peter He saw 
his heart, and knew that he would be one of the founders of the kingdom with 
Him, and so He, looking straight through him, said, 

"Thou art Simon, the son of Jona ; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is 
by interpretation Peter." (A stone.) 

So John, the loving ; Andrew, the obedient, and Peter, the believing 
began to follow Jesus. And Peter's strong faith was like a foundation of 
stone in the beginning of the building of the kingdom. 

There was another man from Bethsaida w^ho had come down to hear John. 
His name was Philip. Jesus found him and said, " Follow Me." And he not 
only followed Jesus, but he went joyfully to find his friend, Nathanael, and tell 
him that they had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 

Nathanael could not believe that the Messiah would be a man of Nazareth, 
because the prophets had said that He would come from Bethlehem. 

So he said, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " 

" Come and see," said Philip, urgently, and he went. 

As he came to Jesus he met the deep, kind look that had searched Peter's 
heart and heard Jesus say, 

" Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no gfuile ! " He saw inno- 
cence in the heart of Nathanael, but Nathanael wondered how Jesus could 
know him. 



156 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Before that Philip called thee when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw 
thee, said Jesus. 

Then Nathanael's whole heart went over to Jesus, and he cried, 
" Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God ; Thou art the King of Israel ! " 
He needed nothing more to prove that Jesus was the Christ, but Jesus 
told him that he should see greater things, angels out of the open heaven 
ascending and descending upon Him. 

Nathanael became the fifth disciple. His name was afterward called Bar- 
tholomew. 



CHAPTER IX. 
THE FIRST MIRACLE. 

Jesus and the five who had become His constant friends and disciples, 
turned their faces toward home, for they were all from Galilee. It was 
Spring, and the land was beautiful with the fresh green of the trees and the 
breaking forth of wild flowers among the grass. On the Journey the disciples 
scarcely saw the beauty around them, or felt weary from the journey, for they 
were hearing the gracious words of their new Friend concerning the coming 
in of the king-dom. 

There was to be a marriage feast near Nazareth in the home of a friend. 
Mary and her family were invited, and also the friends who had come with 
Jesus. It was at Cana, a village between Nazareth and the lake, and they 
walked over the hills early to see the bride, crowned with flowers and a white 
veil, married to the man to whom she had given herself Then followed a 
feast at the house of the father of the bridegroom. There were joyful greet- 
ings, and garlands of flowers, and wine — for Palestine was the land of vine- 
yards, and they knew how to prepare a harmless wine. Before the feast was 
over they found that the wine had given out, and those who served the feast 
were distressed. It was thought a disgrace to fail in hospitality at a wedding 
feast, and so Mary came to Jesus for advice, saying, 

"They have no wine." 

"Woman," He said — and among the Jews this was a respectful manner 
of speaking to a woman — "what have I to do with thee ? Mine hour is not 
yet come." 




THE MARRIAGE AT CANA. 



158 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

He meant that He must act from the Divine Nature, and not from the 
human nature that He had received from His mother. 

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it," said Mary to the servants. 

He told them to fill with v^ater the six large vi^ater-pots of stone that 
stood near, and they filled them to the brim, 

" Draw out now, and bear to the governor of the feast," He said, and it 
was served at the table, and the master of the feast called to the brideg^room, 

"Thou hast saved the good wine until now." 

This was the beginning of miracles. 

These were happy days for Mary, for she had her Son back again. From 
the wedding Jesus and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples went 
down to Capernaum by the lake for a few days. 

Here Peter lived by the blue, beautiful lake that is walled by high hills 
on one side, while on the other lies what once was the "garden of Genne- 
saret " watered by streams, and rich with fruits, and grains, and flowers. 



CHAPTER X. 

IN HIS father's house. 

The feeling that Jesus had when a boy, that He must be about His 
Father's business was now satisfied. He had begun the work of His ministry, 
though He had been doing all those silent years the tremendous work of over- 
coming evil for us. He met it in His own human nature, and overcame it 
step by step without yielding to sin. He was to do this work until it should 
be finished upon the cross, but for three years He was to teach the people the 
truths of the new kingdom, and show by His life, and at last by the laying 
down of His life, that love had come into the world to fill the old forms of the 
law full of the new Spirit of Life. He was to take away the sins of the world, 
and in place of them give to the world eternal life. 

It was time for the Passover Feast again, and Jesus with his disciples 
joined the Capernaum company and started on the pleasant journey to Jeru- 
salem. They sang the songs of Zion, and rejoiced when the towers of 
Jerusalem and the Golden Temple came into view, and as they came down 
the road over Olivet they probably made their camp there where they could 



IN HIS FATHER'S HOUSE. 159 

look across the valley to the Temple. Everything was moving. Flocks of 
sheep and herds of oxen were being driven toward the Temple, and crowds 
of people from near and far were filling the streets, and also moving toward 
the Holy House. 

When Jesus came into the Temple Court He saw something that stirred 
his whole soul with sorrow and wrath. The sellers of sheep, and oxen, and 
doves, and the money-changers had brought their things into the great court 
inside the marble pillars, and on the pavement of many-colored marbles, and 
were buying and selling noisily, and turning the courts of the Lord into 
a market. The voices of men and animals must have disturbed those who 
worshipped in the inner courts. The priests allowed it, perhaps they were 
paid for doing so, and Jesus, as a Son in His Father's house where the ser- 
vants had been unfaithful, began clearing the court of all these things, and 
finding some cord on the pavement He folded it into a short scourge of many 
strands and used it to drive the cattle and sheep and their keepers out of 
court. The money-changers would not easily yield, but he poured out their 
money and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, 

"Take these things hence ; make not my Father's house a house of mer- 
chandise." 

And the people wondered why they should obey this strange young man, 
but they did. 

It was the Divine light in the face of Jesus, and not the bit of cord that 
drove them out. They saw that He had a right to clear the Temple courts. 

Then the Jews wondered who had given Him this right, and they said to 
Him, 

"What sign showest Thou unto us, seeing Thou doest these things ? " 

And this was the sign He gave them : " Destroy this Temple, and in 
three days I will raise it up." 

He knew that they would not understand this, but they would remember 
it after they had crucified Him and He had risen from the dead, for He spoke 
of His body. 

The Jews turned scornfully away. The Temple had been forty-six years 
in building, and they thought His promise an idle boast, but they did not 
forget it. Three years after they helped to bring Him to the cross, accus- 
ing Him in the High priests palace of saying these things. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A TALK ABOUT THE BREATH OF GOD. 

Jesus was in the Temple most of the time during the Passover Feast. 
He taught the people standing among the marble pillars of the outer court. 
He also did miracles among them, and many believed on Him because of the 
miracles, but He, knowing their hearts, saw not one among them whom He 
wauld call to be with Him in His work, for He could not wholly trust them. 
The Pharisees and Doctors of the Law also stood and listened to Him, and 
among them was one whose heart turned toward Jesus. He was one of the 
highest of the Pharisees, but his heart was not so proud and full of self-love 
as the hearts of most of the Pharisees. His name was Nicodemus. He 
longed to talk with Jesus, but he was afraid of what the other Pharisees would 
say. 

He found out where the camp of the Galilean company was, and one 
night went out of the city gate, across the Kedron bridge and up the slope 
of the Mount of Olives and found Jesus. There was no place to talk quietly 
in the crowded tents, so they must have gone out under the shadowy olive 
trees to talk. 

" Master," he said — and it was much for the wise Pharisee to speak so 
humbly to the young carpenter of Galilee — " Master, we know that Thou art 
a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that Thou 
doest except God be with him." 

Jesus looked through the heart of Nicodemus, though it was night, and 
saw what he needed most, and so He made no reply about Himself or His 
miracles, but said, 

" Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again he cannot see the 
Kingdom of God." 

Nicodemus could not understand how a man could be born when he is 
old, so Jesus explained that it was a spiritual birth. "That which is born of 
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." And as the 
wind softly stirred the leaves of the olive trees above their heads He said, 

" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it bloweth. So is every one 

that is born of the Spirit." 

(i6o) 






— Mi; 



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AT JACOB'S WELL. 



i62 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Nicodemus had always thought that religion was the keeping of the law 
as all Jews were taught by the priests, so he was astonished, and said, 

" How can these things be ?" 

" Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these things ?" said Jesus, 
and then He spoke to the soul of Nicodemus of the things of the Spirit of 
Heaven — The Heaven in which He already lived, — and of the new kingdom 
that had begun on earth. 

If you will find what Jesus said to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John's 
Gospel you will find among other things these beautiful words, — 

" For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

Nicodemus found out that life was the breath of God in man, and that by 
it man lives. Perhaps he felt it within him as he went down the valley under 
the trees and heard the wind among the leaves ; and as he came up the steep 
way and through the city gate in the silence of the night, perhaps he resolved 
to be a disciple of Jesus. 



CHAPTER XII. 
A TALK ABOUT THE WATER OF LIFE. 

After the Passover there were many who had believed in Jesus who 
wished to be baptized, and so they went down to Jordan with Jesus and the 
disciples, and then the disciples baptized them. 

John, who was also baptizing at another point by the river, was told that 
Jesus was baptizing and that all men were going to Him. John was rejoiced 
at this. 

"This my joy therefore is fulfilled," he said. "He must increase, but I 
must decrease. He that cometh from heaven is above all." 

After this Jesus went back to Galilee, and as He and His disciples went 
through the country of Samaria, which lay between Judea and Galilee, they 
came at noon near to the little village of Sychar among the hills. It was the 
most difficult road to Galilee, and most persons followed the Jordan road 
when going back and forth, for the Judeans and Samaritans were not friendly, 
but it is written that Jesus " must needs go through Samaria." 

While the disciples went up into the village to buy some bread, Jesus sat 



A TALK ABOUT THE WATER OF LIFE. 163 

down by a deep well in the valley. It was built round with stone, and covered 
from the sun, for the people prized the well not only for the clear, cold water, 
but because Jacob, the father of all the tribes of Israel dug the well for his 
family and cattle and flocks hundreds of years before. 

While Jesus rested by the well a woman came down the path from the 
town to draw water. She drew the water with a strong cord that she fastened 
around her earthen water-jar and was going to put it on her shoulder and 
carry it away when Jesus asked her for a drink of water. She had not offered 
Him any for she thought a Jew would not ask even a drink of water from a 
Samaritan, but Jesus said, 

"If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee 'Give 
me to drink' thou wouldst have asked of Him and he would have given thee 
living water." 

The woman did not understand His words about water any more than 
Nicodemus did about the blowing of the wind. Jesus was talking about life 
always and everwhere, but the people were slow to understand Him. 

The woman wondered where Jesus could get better water than this 
from Jacob's well. 

"Whosoever shall drink of this water," He said, "shall thirst again, but 
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall eive him shall never thirst. But 
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up 
into everlasting life." 

When the woman heard this she asked for it, that she might not be thirsty 
and come to the well for water, but Jesus, seeing that she could not under- 
stand His words began to speak of her life, and so truly that she was amazed 
and said, 

"Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." She talked of the mountain 
near by which had been the place of worship of the Samaritans, and of the 
Temple at Jerusalem where the Jews worshipped, for she did not want to talk 
of her own life, which was not good. 

Jesus then showed her that " God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him 
must worship Him in spirit and in truth," and that the hour had come when 
He wished people to worship him so in every place. 

. "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ," she said, 

" I that speak unto thee am He," He said. Then the woman left her 
water-jar and hurried away without a word to tell the people of the town. 



i64 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

While she was away His disciples came and begged Jesus to eat, but His 
spirit was filled with the thought of life, and he said, 

" I have meat to eat that ye know not of" 

And when they did not understand He said, 

"My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and finish His work," 
and when he thought how great the work was that was before Him, it was as 
if the harvest-time of gathering the people into the kingdom had come. 

As they looked out along the valley men were ploughing the fields to sow 
wheat. 

" Say ye not there are four months," He said, "and then cometh har- 
vest ? Behold I say unto you, ' Lift up your eyes and look on the fields ; for 
they are white already to harvest.' " 

While He stayed two days in Sychar many believed on him there. 

" Now we believe," they said to the woman, not because of thy saying for 
we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the 
Saviour of the world." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

JESUS IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 

Jesus came back to Galilee through the Valley of Jenin and across the 
plain of Jezreel to Cana, where His disciple Nathanael lived, and where He 
had wrought His first miracle. While He was in Cana a nobleman who lived 
at Capernaum came riding into the little town in great haste to asked Jesus to 
come down and heal his son who was near death. To try him, Jesus said, 

" Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." 

The nobleman would not stop to talk of this, but besought Jesus, saying, 

" Sir, come down ere my child die." 

Jesus was glad to see his faith, and ready to meet it. 

" Go thy way," He said, " thy son liveth," and the man went away believ- 
ing what Jesus had said. On the way down to Capernaum by the Lake, some 
glad-faced servants came hastening to meet him. 

"Thy son liveth!" They cried — the very words that Jesus had used. 
When he asked them when the boy had taken a turn for the better they said, 

" Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 




JESUS IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 



i66 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Then the happy father knew that it was at the seventh hour — one o'clock 
— that Jesus had said, "Thy son hveth." 

There was joy in the house of the nobleman when the father and mother 
and all the household gathered around the boy who had been healed, and 
talked of the wonderful power of Jesus in speaking the word of healing. 

From Cana Jesus went to Nazareth. John the Baptist had been thrown 
into a gloomy prison down by the Dead Sea by Herod Antipas because he had 
rebuked the wickedness of that king, and Jesus knew that His own work was 
now fully begun, since the prophet, who had come to prepare His way, was 
laid aside. 

While Jesus was at home with His mother and brothers and sisters He 
went one Sabbath to the village church or synagogue, as He had always 
done through His childhood and youth. Perhaps His brothers and some ot 
His disciples were with Him, while His mother and sisters parted from Him 
and entered by another door, as was the Jewish custom. There were many 
there who hoped that the young carpenter, who had become a teacher, and as 
many believed, a prophet, would read from the Book of the Law. 

After the singing, and the prayers, and the reciting, of the creeds, the time 
came for the reading and teaching. The first lesson had been read, and the 
ruler of the synagogue took from the sacred place where it was kept another 
parchment roll, and coming down the steps he handed it to Jesus. It was the 
roll of Isaiah, and as Jesus went up to the reader's desk He opened and 
unrolled it until He came to these words, 

"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath annointed me to 
preach the gospel to the poor ; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, 
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to 
set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the 
Lord." 

When he had finished he rolled the book again and handed it to the 
minister and sat down. It was the custom of those who were teachers of the 
people to sit down to teach, while the people all rose and stood until he had 
finished. 

" This day," said Jesus " is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." 

The people were looking and listening so earnestly that it was very still, 
and as Jesus told them simply that He was the very One whom Isaiah had 
spoken of seven hundred years before, that He had brought the good tidings, 
and had come to do the work the prophet had spoken of, they looked at each 



JESUS IN THE SYNA<iOGUE. 167 

s 

Other in amazement. To be sure they had never heard such words of grace 

and wisdom, but how could this be true ? 

" Is not this Joseph's son ?" they asked each other. Joseph had been 

their neighbor and Jesus had grown up among them and played with their 

children. They thought some evil thing had entered into Him disturbing His 

mind. But when He began to tell them that no prophet was accepted in his 

own country, and that the Lord was obliged to send them to strangers, as He 

sent Elijah and Elisha, they were angry with Him. Some of the men wished 

to teach Him a lesson, and they took Him by force to the edge of a cliff, for 

Nazareth was built high up among the hills, and were about to cast Him over 

among the limestone rocks below, but turning away from them, Jesus walked 

quietly down the hill to the path that led into the valley — and no one 

was able to lay a hand upon Him to harm Him. " He came unto His own, 

and His own received Him not," and He went away to preach the good 

tidings in other towns. The heart of Mary must have been full of sorrow 

when she saw her Son " despised and rejected of men " as Isaiah 

prophesied, but she hid her sorrow, and remembered the words of the Lord 

brought to her by the angel before her Son was born. 

And so" Jesus went down to Capernaum where he had friends and dis- 
ciples, and afterward His mother and His brothers went to Him there, but 
Nazareth knew him no more. 

It was about this time that it is supposed that Jesus went alone to a 
religious feast at Jerusalem, and while there cured a poor man who could not 
walk. He lay on his mat near a spring called Bethesda. It was covered by 
a roof, and had five porches. Here the sick were brought by their friends 
that they might, when they saw the waters bubble up, step in and be cured. 
They believed then an angel came down and made the moving of the waters, 
but it was probably one of the kind called intermittent springs. There is one 
at Jerusalem now called the "Fountain of the Virgin " which rises at certain 
times. 

Jesus saw the poor friendless man who had waited for thirty-eight years 
for the chance of stepping into the waters when they were moving, and had 
been disappointed for others stepped in before him. Looking at him. He said, 

"Wilt thou be made whole?" 

The man explained why he could not be cured, for there was no man to 
help him. Then Jesns said, 

" Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." 

He rose at once, and walked, carrying the mat on which he lay. 



1 68 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

The Jews were angry when they heard of it for the man had been cured 
on the Sabbath, but Jesus told them that they were all refusing eternal life 
because of their unbelief, saying, - 

"Ye will not come unto Me that yet might have life." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AMONG THE FISHERMEN. 

Capernaum was on the shore of the beautiful lake of Galilee. There 
were villages clustered around the lake then and all Galilee was swarming 
with busy life, but now there are few inhabitants, and Capernaum is only a 
heap of stones. Some of these stones, which may now be seen, are carved in 
such a way that we may know that they are a part of an ancient synagogue. 
This was the synagogue, perhaps, that a good Centurion built whose servant 
Jesus cured when he was near death, and here in Capernaum lived the noble- 
man whose son Jesus cured by a word, and here lived His first disciples, 
Peter and Andrew, and James and John, and here Matthew, who sat in his 
little office taking the taxes that the people had to pay, may have seen Jesus 
pass, and may have heard him speak before he became a disciple. 

The beautiful plain of Gennesaret spreads out from one end of the lake, 
and there is a white beach of shells there, while at other points on the lake 
there are hills and great rocks close to the water. 

On this white beach Jesus stood one spring morning teaching the people. 
As the fisher-folks and others gathered close around to hear Him, He was 
pushed so near the water that He stepped into Peter's boat, which was near 
the shore, and asked him to push it out a litle way into the water, and there 
in the stern of the boat Jesus sat and taught the people who stood thick upon 
the shore. 

The boat of Zebedee, the father of James and John was near by, for they 
were the partners of Peter and Andrew. They had washed their nets and had 
given up fishing until night again, for morning was not a good time for fishing, 
but Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, — 

" Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." 

The disciples were surprised at this, for it was not the hour for fishing, 
and Peter said, 



THE HEALING HAND OF JESUS. 169 

" Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing ; nevertheless 
at thy word I will let down the net." 

When they had done this they found that their n<ts were filled with fishes. 
so that they called to James and John to come and help them, for their nets 
were breaking. When they had emptied the nets into the two boats they were 
filled so full that they began to sink. 

Then Peter fell down at Jesus's knees and cried out, — 

" Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord !" so wonderful did the 
miracle seem to him. 

But to Peter Jesus said, — 

" Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." James and John He 
also called, and showed them that the time had now come for them to help 
Him in founding the Kingdom. 

They did not wait to sell the great draught of fishes that they had brought 
to land ; and they did not wait to sell their fishing boats and nets, but they 
forsook all and followed Jesus. They did not know that their names would 
be known forever as the founders of the Christian Church with Him who was 
its divine Head. 



CHAPTER XV. 
THE HEALING HAND OF JESUS. 

The Jewish church, or synagogue at Capernaum was very beautiful. It 
was of white marble, and richly carved, and was the gift of a Roman officer to 
the Jews. 

One Sabbath morning Jesus went in and sat among the learned Rabbis, 
for He wished to speak to the people as He had near Nazareth. The people 
knew and loved him, and the place was crowded to hear Him speak. He sat 
there through the singing, and the prayers, and the reading. 

The parchment roll:"> of the law and the prophets were in a case behind 
Him ; and there was the curtain, and the branched candlesticks. Then He 
went to the Teacher's seat, and while all the people stood He sat and taught 
them. People wondered, as they always did, at his words, for they were not 
like the words of the Rabbis, — they were as if God Himself were speaking 
through a man. 



lyo CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

In the midst of it there was a loud cry from a man who looked like a 
maniac. He had followed the people in, and the words of Jesus had disturbed 
the evil spirit that was in Him, 

" Let us alone," it cried, " what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of 
Nazareth. Art thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who Thou art, — the 
Holy One of God." 

" Hold thy peace, and come out of Him," said Jesus, and the poor man 
fell headlong on the marble floor, but in a moment he was free, for the evil spirit 
had obeyed the word of Jesus, and this astonished the people so much that 
they told it through all the town and the country round about. 

When He went home from the synagogue, for Peter's house was one of 
His homes, He found the mother of Peter's wife very ill of fever, and they 
brought Jesus to her bed. He bent over her and said some words to that 
which had caused the fever, and at once it was gone. 

She seemed to be quite well again, and her first wish was to do some- 
thing for this wonderful man whom Peter had been following, and she rose 
and helped to prepare food for Him. 

The people did not dare to come to Jesus for healing while it was yet the 
Sabbath, for the Rabbis said it was wrong to cure people on the Sabbath day, 
but as soon as the sun had set the Sabbath ended, and then the streets 
were filled with people who came for themselves, or bringing their sick friends 
to be touched by the hand of Jesus. All around the little house of Peter they 
crowded, while He walked among them looking at them with pitying love, and 
" He laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FOLLOWING JESUS. 

The next morning Jesus went out among the hills alone. All day He 
was pressed upon by the poor, the sick, the blind, and the lame, or those who 
were hungry for the word, and so at night or early morning He went out to 
be alone, to think of the great work he had come to do, and to pray or talk to 
the Father, for Jesus and the Father were one. But the people followed Him, 
and begged him not to leave them. 




THE NET FUIvIv OF FISHES. 



172 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

"I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also," He said, "for 
therefore am I sent." And He took his disciples and started on a journey from 
village to village through Galilee. There were about two hundred of these 
towns, and they were near together. It was the springtime, and the fields and 
hills between the villages were beautiful with flowers and growing grain. 
Sometimes He taught in their churches, and sometimes under their trees 
or trellises, and wherever He went the common people heard him gladly. 

Once as He drew near a town a leper followed Him. He followed Him 
into the town, which was against the law, for the leper was not allowed to live 
inside a town, or to come near the people, as the touch of a leper would give 
the disease to another. But so earnest was he to see Jesus that he came 
through the crowd and fell on his face before Jesus, saying, 

"Lord if Thou wilt. Thou canst make me clean " 

Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be thou 
clean." 

Suddenly the leprosy left the man, and his dead and filthy skin became 
as healthy as a child's, and Jesus sent him to the priest to offer that which the 
law commanded for the cleansing of lepers. It was a long, and often costly 
process that a leper must pass through to be 'cleansed from his disease, but 
the word of Jesus was with power, and brought divine life to take the place 
of death, for leprosy was a slow death. 

When the Lord came back to Capernaum the people thronged Him, and 
when He rested in the shaded court of a friend's house it was soon filled with 
the eager people who longed to hear His word, or be healed by His touch. 

Once it was so crowded in the court that some men, who were bringing 
a friend to Jesus who was helpless with palsy, took him up by the outside 
stairs to the housetop. There, by taking up a few tiles, they made an open- 
ing just over the place where Jesus sat, and the people soon saw the man 
lying on his mat before Jesus, for they had let it down by cords through the 
lingf. 

Jesus saw the faith of the four men who had let their sick friend down at 
His feet, and it touched His heart. He also saw the longing in the soul of 
the sick man to be good and pure, and He said, 

"Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." 

The Scribes, who were always copying the Scriptures — for there was no 
printing done in those days — were always watching to hear Jesus say some- 
thing contrary to the Law of Moses, that they might tell it to the priests, 










JESUS HEALING THE SICK. 



174 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

and some who were sitting there looked at each other and said in their hearts, 

"Who can forgive sins but God only ? " 

Jesus heard their thoughts and asked them why they reasoned in this 
way with themselves, and which seemed to them the easier, to forgive sins 
or to heal the body. 

But that they might know that He had power over the body as well *&s 
the soul He said to the sick man, 

" Arise ; take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house." 

The man rose and rolled up his mat and carried it out, the people 
falling back astonished to let him pass, for his palsy had left him and he 
walked out strong and well. 

" We have seen strange things to-day," the people said among themselves 
for they could not understand how a man could forgive sins or heal disease. 

When Jesus left the house to go down to the sea-shore He passed the 
Custom-house, where the tax-gatherers, or "publicans," gathered money from 
the Jewish people to pay to their conquerors, the Romans. 

The Romans were very hard in their dealings with the Jews, and made 
themselves rich by taking money from the poor of their provinces. 

The people did not like the tax-gatherer, and his was not a pleasant office. 

Levi, also called Matthew, was a rich tax-gatherer at Capernaum, and as 
he sat in his office looking out upon the market-place he saw Jesus passing 
by. Perhaps he had often heard Jesus teach by the shore and in the market- 
place, and longed to follow Him. He saw the Teacher stop at his open 
door, and heard Him say, 

"Follow Me." 

That was enough; Matthew left all, rose up and followed Jesus. He had 
a business that made him rich, but he was ready to leave it all to be a disciple 
of Jesus. 

He wanted all to know that he had chosen a new life, and so he gave a 
great dinner to his friends, and invited Jesus and His five disciples that he 
might confess before them all his faith in Jesus. 

The Pharisees looked down upon the publicans and thought them a people 
unfit to associate with, and when they passed by and saw Jesus sitting in 
Matthew's house at the feast they asked His disciples as they went in and out 
why their Master ate with "publicans and sinners," a thing they felt them- 
selves too good to do. 

Jesus Himself answered them in words that have helped many sinful 
people to come to Him since. 



FRIENDS OF JESUS. 175 

" They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I 
came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." 

And then He turned to talk with Matthew and his friends, who listened 
to every word that fell from His lips, and did not try to find fault with Him 
as the Pharisees did. 

Matthew had made a rich feast, and his table was no doubt piled with 
the beautiful fruits of the plain of Gennesaret, but the eyes of all and the 
thoughts of all were fixed upon the wonderful Teacher, and Matthew, the 
publican, who had become His disciple. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FRIENDS OF JESUS. 

Jesus had a good and true reason for choosing just twelve men to help 
Him to begin to build the first Christian Church, or the Kingdom of Heaven 
on the earth. We cannot yet understand the reason for everything He did, 
but quite enough to help us to believe in Him, and to give us a place in His 
kingdom. He had called half that number and soon He called six more to 
join them, and named them apostles. 

Before He called them He went up into a mountain to be alone. He 
left Capernaum and went up through a rocky vale to a high plain where the 
grass lay thick and the wild flowers were coming up among it, for it was 
spring-time. Two hills, or peaks rose out of this plain, and there was a grassy 
hollow between. They were called the " Horns of Hattin," From one of 
these hills Jesus could see the lake with its cities, and the plain dotted with 
-villages below, and beyond them the great Mount Hermon crowned with 
snow. Here Jesus stayed all night, and the next morning came down into 
the grassy dale between the peaks where the people were gathering. The 
disciples went to meet Him, and He told them that He had chosen twelve of 
them to be with Him in His work, and to preach the Good Tidings to the 
people. 

He called to His side Peter and Andrew, and James and John — the two 
pairs of brothers who were His first friends; then Philip, of Bethsaida,Bartholo- 
men, from Cana, and Matthew, the tax-gatherer of Capernaum, who afterward 



176 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

wrote the first gospel. He also chose Thomas, of Galilee ; James and Jude, 
two brothers from Capernaum; Simon, of Galilee, and Judas Iscariot, who came 
from the country near Jerusalem. Five of these, it is said, were His cousins. 
More than half of them were fisherman, and none of them were learned men, 
unless Bartholomew might be called one. How wonderful it must have been 
to see these twelve earnest young men gathered around Jesus, ready to go 
where He should send them, or follow Him to death. No kings or emperors 
on earth ever had so great honor given them as that which Jesus gave to 
these men, for they became the Lord's spiritual brothers, and princes in His 
spiritual kingdom. 

Then Jesus came down among the people. Some had brought sick 
friends up the rocky gorge for Jesus to touch ; or they had brought poor souls 
possessed by devils for Him to set free, and He healed them all. 

Then He sat down and taught the people. The sayings of that wonder- 
ful day are kept in the gospels, and are called the "Sermon on the Mount." 
There was no choir, no organ, no church made with hands, but the words are 
now read in every Christian church in the world. The preacher sat on a 
green hillock, His dark cloak thrown back showing His white tunic, and the 
spring sunshine lay on His holy, beautiful face and flowing hair. All this the 
people saw, but they saw much more than this. They saw something divine 
in His face. His form, and the light around Him, and what they heard 
seemed to them to be the words of a Divine Man. He looked lovingly on 
the little group of disciples near Him, and blessed them in beautiful words 
that we call the Beatitudes, or the Ten Blessings. He said to them and to us 
that the "blessed" (happy) are the good, humble, pure souls who have little 
of this world's wealth and friendship, but much faith and love. 

If you will read the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew you will 
know much that Jesus taught that heavenly day on Hattin Mount. He taught 
them the law of love and forgiveness ; the law of purity and truth. He taught 
them to be humble and simple, especially in prayer, and not like the Pharisees. 
He gave them a wonderful prayer that we call "the Lord's Prayer," though 
it is a prayer to the Lord, for all Christians in all ages to bring to Him. He 
told them that if they were children of God they could not be worldly, 
loving themselves and the world best ; neither could they serve two masters. 
Then He taught them a beautiful lesson of trust in the Heavenly Father by 
pointing to the birds that flew above them, and reminding them how they were 
fed and cared for ; and also by pointing to the wild field lilies that grew near 
by, their scarlet petals shining in the sun. 




SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 



178 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Consider the lilies of the field how they grow," he said, " they toil not, 
neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these," and then He asked them if God, 
who clothed the lilies, would not clothe His own children, and told them to 
have no fear for the future, but to seek the Kingdom of God first and always, 
and all needed things would be given to them. 

Then He looked away from the birds and the lilies into the eyes of the 
people and saw their need of love and truth, for he could read their hearts. 
He told them that they should not judge each other, or look long upon 
each other's faults, but rather upon their own, and showed them how they 
might ask God for love and truth, and it would surely be given them, 
because the Heavenly Father is more just, and kind, and loving than an 
earthly father can be. 

And here is the Golden Rule of Christ, which, if we live by it, will bring 
heaven down to earth. 

" Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
them." 

He told them that the way of the world was wide, and many were crowd- 
ing into it, while the heavenly way was narrow in this life, and few were find- 
ing it, though many talked much about it, and seemed to have found it. 
He said that it would be shown in the day when we all appear before God 
who has truly followed Him. He said that the true men were like the wise 
man who built his house upon a rock, and when the winds, the rain, and the 
flood came it stood fast, because it was founded on the rock; and the false were 
like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand, and when the winds, 
and the rain, and the floods came it fell, and great was the fall of it. 

The people went away from this great meeting among the hills to think 
it over. It was so new and so wonderful, not at all like the teaching of the 
scribes, for the young carpenter of Nazareth spoke like a Teacher of teachers. 
Ever since that day when the Lord sat and taught the truths of the Kingdom 
of Heaven, and the people stood upon the grassy plain among the spring 
flowers and the wild thyme to hear his words, the Sermon on the Mount has 
been known as the greatest sermon the world has ever known. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LORD OF LIFE. 

Jesus came down to Capernaum again and found the same crowds of 
needy people, who were like sheep having no shepherd. The rich as well as 
the poor had their wants and their troubles. 

A good Roman officer, called a Centurion, because he was captain over a 
hundred men, had a servant who was so faithful to him that he was very fond 
of him. The servant was very sick, and when the Centurion heard that Jesus 
was again in Capernaum he went to the chief men of the city and asked them 
to get Jesus to come and cure his servant. He feared to ask the favor him- 
self, for he thought Jesus was a Jew who would not like to have dealings with 
the Romans. So the Jews spoke to Jesus about it saying that the Centurion 
was the good man who had built a beautiful synagogue for them. Jesus did 
not need to be urged to be kind to a Roman for He loved all the people of the 
earth alike. 

While He was on His way some friends of the Centurion came to meet 
Him with a message. 

"Lord, trouble not Thyself," he said, "for I am not worthy that Thou 
shouldst enter under my roof ; Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to 
come unto Thee ; but say in a word and my servant shall be healed." 

Jesus told the people who followed Him that He had not found such faith 
as this among their own people. And when the men returned to the Centur- 
ion's house they found the servant cured of his sickness. 

But some of the Jews were offended because Jesus had said that a pagan 
Roman could have more faith than a Jew, and that they would enter the King- 
dom of Heaven while the Jews would be left out. 

The next day Jesus and His disciples went to a Httle city called Nain, set 
up among the hills, more than twenty miles away. When they were near the 
city gate they met a funeral procession coming out. They were going to the 
burying ground on a hillside not far away. There were hiredmourners, as is 
the custom in that country, who made many doleful noises, and behind them 
came a weeping woman — the mother of the young man who had died. 

His body was borne by friends and followed by many more, for all felt 
sorry for the poor woman who had lost her only son. 

(179) 



i8o CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

As the procession passed Jesus said two little words to the woman — 
" Weep not," and then He put forth His hand and touched the bier. The men 
who bore it set it down before Jesus who looked down into the face of the 
dead, saying, 

" Young man, I say unto thee, arise ! " 

In a moment the young man opened his eyes, sat up, and began to speak, 
and Jesus gave him back from the grave to his happy mother. 

While Jesus was near Nain some of the disciples of John the Baptist 
came to see Him. John was in prison still, down in the low, hot country by 
the Dead Sea. He had heard strange stories about Jesus from the disciples 
who came to see him, and because they were not settled in their mind about 
Him, John sent them to find Him and to say, 

" Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another ? " 

Jesus told them to go and tell John what they saw. 

"The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel 
preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." 

Then Jesus taught the people who stood by, and the lesson ended with 
these words which he speaks to the whole world, 

" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest ; take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly 
of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls ; for my yoke is easy and my 
burden is liofht." 

This is the loving invitation of Jesus to every one of us to enter the 
Kingdom of Heaven, and it is the King Himself who invites us. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MARY OF MAGDALA. 

There was a Pharisee named Simon, who was very curious to know what 
Jesus taught, although he had no wish to be His disciple. He was a rich man 
and lived in a beautiful house with a court. Beyond the court was a banqueting 
room with couches on which guests sat leaning upon the tables in the Eastern 
fashion. There were other guests invited to hear Jesus talk, the friends of 




JESUS IN THE STORM. 



1 82 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Simon, and it is quite probable that when they came the servants of Simon 
met them and took their sandals and washed their feet and arranged their 
hair as was the custom, and were also heartily welcomed by Simon. When 
Jesus came He had no such service or welcome given Him, for Simon did not 
love Him ; he was only curious about Him. 

While they were at the tables a beautiful young woman came in through 
the open door and passed swiftly by the couches on which the guests were 
reclining until she came to the place where Jesus was. No one spoke to her 
or about her, for they all knew that she had been a sinful woman. But soon 
they saw that she bent weeping over the feet of Jesus where He lay upon the 
couch, and soon they knew by the odor of costly perfume that she was anoint- 
ing His feet. As her tears fell she wiped His feet with her long hair, and 
kissed them again and again. 

Simon looked at her severely, but said nothing, though he wondered in 
his heart why Jesus did not know that a sinful woman was touching Him. 
Then said Jesus, 

"Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee." And Simon replied, " Master, 
say on." 

Then Jesus told a little story of a man who had two debtors ; one owed 
him five hundred pence, and the other fifty ; and when they had nothing 
to pay he frankly forgave them both. Then he asked which of them will love 
Him most ?" 

" I suppose that he to whom he forgave most," said Simon, and Jesus 
told him that he was rigfht. 

Then He turned and pointed to the woman, saying, 

" See'st thou this woman ?" and the eyes of all were fixed on the weep- 
ing Mary of Magdala. 

When Jesus had told Simon that he had failed to bring water for His 
feet, though she had washed them with her tears, and wiped them with her 
hair ; that he had given Him no kiss of welcome, and she had not ceased to 
kiss His feet ; that he had not anointed His head with oil, but she had 
anointed His feet with costly ointment. He added, 

" Her sins which are many are forgiven ; for she loved much ; but to 
v/hom little is forgiven the same loveth little." And turning to the woman 
He said, 

" Thy sins are forgiven ; thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace." 

As Jesus went through the villages of Galilee He found many friends and 
many enemies. The twelve were with Him, learning daily the wonderful 



STORIES TOLD BY THE LAKE. 183 

lessons He taught, and preparing to be preachers of the glad tidings also. 

Not only Mary of Magdala, but Susanna, and Joanna, the wife of King 
Herod's steward who had been cured by Him, were His grateful friends. 
Some priests came down from Jerusalem to watch Him, and to tell the people 
that He was not a true teacher, and this pleased the Pharisees. They saw 
that He did wonderful things that no man could do, but they said that He did 
it by the power of the spirit of evil, and they asked Him to show them a sign 
that he was from God. 

The Lord spoke words to the Pharisees that must have burned like coals 
of fire, for it showed how false and wicked their hearts were while their out- 
ward life seemed to be very religious. 

He told them that no sign should be given them except that of Jonah ; 
as he was three days and three nights in the great fish, so should the Son of 
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and though the 
men of Nineveh were wicked, yet they repented at the preaching of Jonah, 
but the men of Jerusalem did not repent, though a greater than Jonah was 
among them. 

Mary and her sons had come from Nazareth hoping to take Jesus away 
from the crowds, perhaps, for a rest among the hills, for the summer heat was 
great down by the lake and along the Jordan. Some one sent word to Jesus, 
as He sat teaching within the court of a house, that His mother and brothers 
were outside, and wished to speak with Him. The crowd was too great for 
them to enter. Before Jesus rose to go out to his mother, He paused a 
moment to teach the great lesson He had come to bring to the world. 
Looking at His discipies He said, 

" My mother and my brethren are these which hear the Word of God 
and do it." 



CHAPTER XX. 

STORIES TOLD BY THE LAKE. 



Jesus was glad to go among the fishermen and teach the people by the 
Lake, for their hearts were like the good ground into which the farmer loves to 
drop his seed, while the hearts of the rich, proud Pharisees were like the rock 
on which seed cannot grow. Perhaps he was thinking of this as He walked 



i84 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

out one morning from Peter's house along the pebbly shore and sat down to 
talk with the people. The crowd always grew large around him there, and 
He had to again enter a fishing boat and sit a little out from the shore that 
the people might see and hear Him more easily. He taught them as no man 
had ever done before. He told them short stories, often taking the subject 
from something the people could see. Perhaps this morning as He looked 
over the lovely plain of Gennesaret, He saw a sower casting seed into a 
brown and furrowed field, for it was the lime of the year for sowing the 
winter wheat. This is the story of "The Sower :" 

"A sower went out to sow his seed," said Jesus, "and as he sowed, some 
fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air de- 
voured it. 

" And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up it withered 
away, because it lacked moisture. 

"And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and 
choked it. 

"And other fell on good ground, and sprang up and bore fruit an hun- 
dred fold." 

And then He said, "He that hath ears to hear let him hear," for He 
knew that some could understand with the heart that He was talking of the 
Word of God, but there were many who could not. 

His disciples asked Him to make the story plain to all, and so He said, 

" The seed is the Word of God. Those by the wayside are they that 
hear; then cometh the devil and taketh away the Word out of their hearts lest 
they should believe and be saved. 

"They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the Word 
with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of 
temptation fall away. 

" And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, 
go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and 
bring no fruit to perfection. 

" But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, 
having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." 

He also told them a story called "The Wheat and the Tares," of a man 
who sowed good seed in a field, but when it sprung up and bore grain there 
were weeds growing among it called tares, for an enemy had sowed the seed 
at night and it had grown up with the wheat. The man's servants wished to 
pull out the tares, but the master of the field said both should grow together 




JESUS TEACHING BY THE SEA. 



1 86 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

until the harvest, that the wheat might not be uprooted with the tares. At 
the end of the harvest the tares would be burned and the wheat gathered into 
the barn. In this way he taught them why good and evil are allowed to grow 
together in this world. 

He also taught them in the story of " The Mustard Seed," that the growth 
of the Lord's Kingdom in the heart is like a mustard seed sowed in a field — 
which is the least of seeds — but which becomes a great plant, so large that 
birds light on its branches. He told them other stories also that were to show 
them that the Kingdom of Heaven was life, and not a written law, and that it 
grows in the hearts of people as a seed grows in a field, one seed bearing 
many seeds, until the time when the Lord's Kingdom shall fill the earth as the 
ripe wheat fills the field in harvest. 

One of the stories told that day was about "The Treasure." He told 
them of a man who, when digging in a field, found a treasure, a mine of gold, 
perhaps, and went and sold all that he had to get money enough to buy that 
field. Another one was the story of "The Pearl," which a pearl-hunter found. 
It was so large and beautiful that he sold all he had to be able to buy it. Both 
these stories were to teach that heaven in the heart is worth more to us, when 
once we find it, than all the treasures or pleasures of this world. 

He also told a story of a " Fishing Net," which caught fish of every kind, 
but when it was drawn to shore the fishermen gathered the good fish into 
baskets, but threw the bad away. This story was something like that of the 
"Wheat and the Tares," showing how good and evil are at last separated. 

This was a wonderful day by the blue waters of the Lake of Galilee. The 
people went home thinking much about the new Teacher and His stories of 
the Kingfdom of Heaven. 

The great Sower of the Seed had been dropping it into their hearts, and 
He alone knew which hearts were "good ground." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

STILLING THE STORMS. 



When Jesus was very tired from teaching the people and healing the 
sick He used to cross the lake and go up among the rocks of Gadara, a wild 
region where there were few villages. After the last long day of teaching 



STILLING THE STORMS. 187 

by the shore Jesus needed rest, but neither at Peter's house, nor any- 
where on that side of the Lake could He get away from the crowds that 
followed Him to hear Him, or to be healed by Him. 

In the evening, when the people came back to Him, He took the large 
fishing-boat with His disciples, and set out for the other side. Several beside 
His disciples wished to go with Him. A scribe wished to follow Him, but 
Jesus told him that He had no home, no place to lay his head, though 
the foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests. Perhaps Jesus 
saw that the scribe was not ready to leave all and follow Him. Another 
wished to go, but thought he ought first to bury his father, but Jesus said to 
him, 

" Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead." This He said of the 
Jews who were spiritually dead. 

After they had gone far out upon the Lake a great wind storm rose. It 
came sweeping down upon them from the hills, rattling the ropes and swell- 
ing the sails so that they had to bring them down and fasten them, and 
and then take the oars. Every part of the little ship was covered with spray 
from the rising waves, and the disciples began to feel afraid. 

Where was Jesus ? He was asleep. They had brought a cushion for 
His head, and He had fallen asleep in the stern of the ship. As a wave fell 
upon them and they were in danger of sinking they woke Jesus saying, 

" Master, Master, we perish !" 

Then He rose and spoke to the winds and waters, and the storm ceased, 
and there was a great calm. 

The fishermen had never seen anything so wonderful as this, and they 
looked at each other, almost more afraid of Jesus than they had been of the 
storm. 

"What manner of man is this," they said, " that even the wind and the 
sea obey Him ! " 

Jesus also wondered, and said, 

" Why are ye so fearful ? How is it that ye have no faith ? " 

As soon as they had landed in Gadara a strange man came out of the 
rock tombs to meet them. He was naked and wounded, for he was always 
wandering in the mountains and among the tombs, crying and cutting himself. 
Jesus was sorry for him for He knew that it was the evil spirits within him 
that made him so unhappy. The poor man tried to worship Jesus, and the 
evil spirits only cried out the more, begging to be let alone. 



1 88 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

When Jesus asked "What is thy name," he answered, "My name is 
Legion, for we are many." 

Jesus made the poor man free by commanding the evil spirits to come out 
of him. They entered into a herd of swine near by, and the frightened creatures 
ran down a steep place into the lake and were drowned. The men who kept 
them were afraid and ran away, telling all whom they met of the thing that 
had happened. Some people came to see for themselves, and they found the 
wild man of the tombs clothed and quietly sitting at the feet of Jesus listening 
to His word. They were afraid of Jesus and begged Him to go away. They 
did not understand that He wished to bless and not to harm them. 

As He went back to the ship the man who had been cured of his insanity 
begged to go with Him, but Jesus told him to go instead to his friends at 
home and tell them what the Lord had done for him. 

The next morning the people of Decapolis heard a strange story from the 
wild man of the tombs, but was now a reasoning man again. 

And so Jesus stilled the storm of wind on the Lake and the storm of evil 
in a soul. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
CALLED BACK. 



When Jesus came back to Capernaum He found the crowd of friends at 
the little wharf full of concern about Him, and glad that no harm had come to 
Him during the storm. Among them was one who had watched anxiously 
for the boat, for he had a little daughter at home very ill indeed, so ill that she 
was " at the last breath." His name was Jairus, and he was a ruler of the 
synagogue. He was so troubled that he fell at the feet of Jesus, begging Him 
to come and lay His hand on his child that she might live. 

Jeuss went with him, a throng of people with them, hoping to see Him 
do a great work. 

While He was on the way a woman who had been sick twelve years fol- 
lowed close behind Him, and put forth her hand timidly toward Him. 

" If I may touch but His clothes I shall be whole," she said to herself, 
and she touched them with faith in her heart. 

Jesus, who knew all hearts, turned straight around and said : 

" Who touched My clothes ? " 




THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS CALLED BACK. 



igo CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

How the woman shrank back and trembled when she heard that, for she 
was afraid she had done wrong. 

The disciples thought it strange that He should ask this, as the people 
thronged so close that they could not help touching Jesus. But the woman 
knew what He meant and she came and fell down before Him, fearing and 
trembUng, and told Him all the truth. 

Jesus did not look sternly at her as she thought He would do, but He 
said gently, 

" Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in peace, and be whole 
of thy plague." 

While the woman was still at His feet full of gratitude and love because 
she felt herself cured, some friends came from the ruler's house to bring sad 
news. 

"Thy daughter is dead," they said, "why troublest thou the Master any 
further?" 

Jesus saw the looks of grief on the father's face and said quickly, 

" Be not afraid, only believe." 

So they went to the ruler's house, and into the inner room where the 
little maid lay. Many wished to press in after them to see what Jesus would 
do, but he took only Peter and James and John with the father and mother of 
the maiden into the quiet, darkened room. As He went in He said to some 
who were mourning noisily in the outer room, 

"Weep not ; she is not dead, but sleepeth." Jesus loved to call death a 
"sleep," for He knew that we never die. Then He took the little maid by 
the hand and called her. She had not gone so far into the country we cannot 
see that she could not hear a divine Voice calling to her, 

''Talitha cumif' ("Maiden, arise!") At once she rose and walked. 
She was a little girl of twelve, and very dear to her father and mother, and 
there was no doubt great joy as well as wonder in the house of the ruler that 
bright morning after the storm. In their joy and wonder there was danger 
of forgetting to give her the food she was in need of, and so Jesus gently 
reminded them, commanding that something should be given her to eat, but 
he charged them not to talk about the return of their little daughter. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

TWO BY TWO. 

Jesus had a desire to once more speak to the people of His own little 
town of Nazareth, and so He came again to His own, but His own received 
Him not. Once more he went into the Nazareth Synagogue where He 
had listened to the reading of the law all through His childhood, and to teach 
as He had done nine or ten months before. They did not rise up and 
thrust Him out as they did then, but they cast cold looks and scornful words 
upon Him. They could not understand His great power and wisdom, but 
they would not believe in Him. 

" Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary," they said, "the brother of 
James and Joses, and of Juda and Simon ? And are not His sisters here 
with us?" They were offended with Him. Jesus, knowing their faults said, 

"A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his 
own kin, and in his own house." 

He wondered why they were so unbelieving, when in His great love for 
them He was ready to do works of mercy among them, and to tell them the 
glad tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven, but He laid His hands on a few sick 
folk and healed them, and that was all. 

As He went away to come back no more, His heart turned toward the 

many who were waiting for the tidings that His old friends had rejected, and 

He called the twelve together to send them out, two by two, into the world 

around them. He gave them power to cast out evil spirits, and to heal 

the sick ; and He put the preaching power within them so that they could tell 

to others the wonderful truths of the Kingdom of Heaven, He told them 

that they must take nothing for their journey, except a staff, with which to 

walk over the steep mountain paths. He told them also to bless the house 

that sheltered them, and to leave the house or the city that would not receive 

them. He said that they would have many trials, and that their lives would 

be sought by wicked men, but that they need not fear, for the very hairs of 

their head were numbered, and that even a sparrow could not fall to the 

ground without their Father, and they were of more value than many 

sparrows. 

(19O 



192 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

He said many other words to them that gave them comfort and strength. 
They had left all to follow Him, and He showed them how, in losing their all 
in this life they were finding much more than that — even eternal life. 

So, two by two, they went forth and left Jesus alone. 

That great and good man, John the Baptist, was still in the prision of 
King Herold Antipas, down by the Dead Sea. He had been there more than 
a year, but no word came from the king saying that he was free. Queen 
Herodias wanted him to be put to death for he had spoken against her marriage 
with King Herod. She was a wicked woman, and the evil hate the good. 
Herod believed in his heart that John should go free, but for the Queen's sake 
he kept him in prison, but allowed his friends to see him, and sometimes sent 
for him secretly to hear him talk of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

On the king's birthday he gave a great feast to his lords and captains, 
and when they had been served with dainty food in dishes of silver and gold, 
and had tasted the rare fruits and the costly wines, the dancing girls came in 
to flit over the polished marble floor, and wave their airy scarfs to please the 
king and his guests. 

At last a young girl came in and danced alone. She was dressed like a 
princess, and she was a princess. 

Queen Herodias had sent her young daughter, Salome, where an inno- 
cent girl and a queen's daughter should not have gone. 

She pleased the king and his lords greatly, and when she had finished, 
and had knelt before the king to hear what he had to say to her, he cried, 

" Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee," and with an 
oath he declared that he would certainly do it if she should ask the half of his 
kingdom. 

She did not decide for herself, but ran to her mother, saying, 

" What shall I ask ? " And the cruel mother said, 

"The head of John the Baptist." 

King Herod did not expect this. He thought she might ask for some 
jewel of great price, or perhaps a royal palace for her very own, and when he 
heard her request he was very sorry. But an oath made before his lords 
could not be broken. 

He sent men to the prison, and the good prophet, who had never known 
fear, went home to God, and they brought his head to the princess who 
gave it to her mother. The king's feast ended in gloom, and the poor 
girl, who only obeyed her wicked mother, had nothing but a dreadful mem- 
ory to keep forever as the king's gift. 



TWO BY TWO. 



193 



And the king himself — what trouble followed him during the rest of his 
life ! Riches and honors were all taken from him, and he was sent out of 
his own country, while John had gone to his Father's house in the Heavenly- 
Country to suffer no more forever. 

John's disciples buried the body of their beloved master, and then went 
and told Jesus. Only Jesus can give real comfort in trouble. 

The disciples — now called apostles, or teachers — who had been out 
teaching among the villages, heard, perhaps, of the death of John the Baptist, 
and came back to Jesus two by two, as they had gone out. They had been 
preaching, healing the sick, and casting out evil spirits. They often said 
"The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," and the people wondered if it would 
not be best to rise up and make Jesus their king. 

Herod heard of the work of Jesus and the apostles, and was afraid. He 
half believed that John whom he had killed had risen from the dead. He 
tried to see Jesus, but the One who had come to preach the gospel to the 
poor had no time to give to Herod. 

As Peter, and John, and Andrew and all the rest came back they were 
full of stories of the wonderful things that had been done through the power 
that the Lord had given them. Many came with them to find Jesus. He saw 
that they needed to come away from the crowds that were always around 
them so that He could speak to them of their work, and so that they could 
rest, and think, and pray. 

They took a joat and crossed the Lake. The shore was crowded with 
people who wished to be with Jesus, and when they knew that He was going 
to Bethsaida-Julias at the northern end of the Lake they resolved to follow 
Him, for it was only a few miles away. 

At the end of the Lake they entered the Jordan river, and sailing up a 
little way to the landing-place they saw the people coming, some in boats, and 
more in groups along the shore — men, women and children — and Jesus, filled 
with love and pity for them, led them to a green hillside where He sat down 
to teach them as He had often done before. 

It was spring, and the grass was like a great green carpet sprinkled with 
bright wild-flowers, while the river, lined with bushes flowed below, and 
beyond lay the beautiful blue Lake. The disciples stood around their Master 
while He taught the people in simple language that they could understand 
the greatest truths the world has ever heard. All the afternoon He spoke to 
them, and when the sun was slowly going down over the hills of Galilee they 
still wished to stay. They were as sheep having no shepherd. The disciples 

u 



194 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

were troubled about them, for they were far from the villages where bread 
could be bought, and they had nothing to eat. They begged Jesus to send 
them away. 

"Give ye them to eat," said Jesus. Then the disciples were astonished, 
for there were about five thousand men, beside the women and children. 
" Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to 
eat?" said Philip. Then Jesus, who knew what He would do, said, "How 
many loaves have ye ? Go and see." 

They went among the people, and Andrew came back, saying, 
"There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes ; 
but what are they among so many ?" 

Then Jesus told His disciples to seat all the people in order upon the 
green grass, and soon there were little companies of fifty, and larger ones of 
an hundred sitting all over the hillside with their faces turned toward Jesus, 
who stood looking out upon them as a father would look upon his children. 
What were they waiting for? No one knew, but they saw Him take the litde 
lad's basket of bread and the two little fishes and look up to heaven, blessing 
them as He did so. Then He began to break the bread and divide the fishes. 
As He broke the bread and gave to the disciples they took it away to the 
people sitting on the grass, and when they came back to Jesus there was still 
more waiting for them. In this way all the people were fed. 
When they were satisfied Jesus said to His disciples, 
"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." 
And they filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the barley loaves that 
were left. 

What a silent and wonderful supper of bread fresh from the hand of its 
Creator ! 

At last they began saying to each other in a low voice, 
" This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world ! " and 
they began to ask each other if it would not be best to take Him at once and 
make Him king whether he would or would not consent, but when He saw 
what they wished to do, He slipped away and went farther up among the hills 
to rest. 

Evening had now come, and the people not finding Jesus, went away to 
their homes, and the disciples in their little ship returned to Capernaum. 
The people could not understand, nor could His disciples, that Jesus did 
not come to be an earthly king over the little nation of the Jews. Not until 




FEEDING THE FIVE THOUSAND, 



196 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

the Holy Spirit came to make all things clear did they understand that He 
was to be the Spiritual King of all the world. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

WALKING THE WAVES — THE TWO KINGDOMS. 

While Jesus was alone on the mountain side the disciples were trying to 
reach Capernaum in their fishing boat. It was not a long sail, but a contrary 
wind had risen and was blowing them out into the Lake away from the land- 
ing place. 

They had taken down their sail and were rowing, but by three o'clock in 
the morning they were still out upon the Lake. 

Jesus, who knew all things, saw them struggling with the oars, and com- 
ing swiftly down the mountain side He went to them walking upon the water. 

The disciples saw a form through the darkness drawing near to them, 
and strangely enough they did not think of Jesus, but cried out in terror, 
saying, 

"It is a spirit." Then the clear sweet voice of their Master rose over 
the sound of the wind and the waves, "Be of good cheer, it is I, be not 
afraid." And Peter, full of glad faith, cried out, " Lord, if it be Thou, bid me 
come unto Thee on the water." 

When Jesus said " Come," Peter climbed over the side of the boat 
and began to walk toward Jesus, but when a strong wind drove the waves 
upon him he lost sight of the Lord for a moment, and he was afraid. 

" Lord, save me ! " he cried, and began to sink. 

Then Jesus stretched out His hand and caught Peter, saying, " O thou 
of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? " 

When they both entered the ship the wind ceased, and while the disci- 
ples wondered and worshipped, saying, " Of a truth Thou art the Son of 
God," they found themselves at the land not far from Capernaum. 

It was on the white beach of pebbles and shells that bordered the plain 
of Gennesaret where they moored the boat in the early morning, and as soon 
as the people saw them they began bringing their sick friends to Jesus. 
Many were too ill to walk, and were brought on little beds or mattresses 



WALKING THE WAVES— THE TWO KINGDOMS. 197 

and laid at Jesus's feet, and there they were healed if they but touched the 
hem of His garment. 

Many of those who brought the sick to Jesus had been with Him on the 
mountain side, and had eaten of the wonderful bread of heaven that He had 
broken for them. They believed that He could do anything that He would. 

The people whose hearts were set upon making Jesus their king followed 
Him wherever He went. Some who had been with Him when He made 
bread for the great company on the hillside at Bethsaida-Julias found Him 
teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. 

"Teacher, when earnest thou hither?" they said. Jesus, knowing that 
they cared more for His gifts than for His teaching, said, " Ye seek me, not 
because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were 
filled," and told them that they should not labor for the food that perishes, but 
for that which endures forever. 

They still wished Him to do some wonder, or show them how to work 
wonders, for they asked Him what they should do to work the works of God 

" This is the work of God," He said, " That ye believe on Him whom He 
hath sent." Still they remembered the miracle of the bread. 

"What sign showest Thou ? " they said, " Our fathers did eat manna in 
the desert." Then He spoke plainly to them of Himself. 

"The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth 
life unto the world." One more spiritual than the rest said reverently, " Lord, 
evermore give us this bread." 

Then Jesus spoke those words about Himself that turned many away 
from Him. He showed them that He could never be what they expected 
Him to be — an earthly king. He had only the things of the Spirit to give 
them, and He called them to a kingdom that could be seen only with 
spiritual sight. 

"I am the bread of life," He said, "He that cometh to me shall never 
hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. All that the 
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in 
no wise cast out." 

The Jews were offended with Him because He had said, " I came down 
from heaven." " I am the living bread which came down from heaven," He 
said. " If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever ; and the bread 
that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the Hfe of the world." 

Then the Jews were vexed and turned to talk among themselves. 
They could not understand what He meant, but they saw plainly that He 



198 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

was not going to agree with their plan to make Him the King of the Jews, 
who would lead them out of their bondage to the Romans, and establish 
them forever as a nation. 

They did not want to follow Him, but they wanted Him to follow their 
plan. And as for His talk about being the "bread of life," — "This is an 
hard saying," they said, "who can hear it?" 

While they murmured Jesus said, 

" Doth this offend you ? What and if you shall see the Son of Man 
ascending where He was before ? " 

" It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words 
that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.'' 

Then they knew that He meant something above what they could see, or 
what they wanted, and many turned away from Him and went to their homes 
disappointed. He had said, " there are some of you that believe not," and it 
was true. Jesus turned to the twelve who stood in silence near Him, 

" Will ye also go away ? " He said. 

Loving, impulsive Peter cried out, 

" Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and 
we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." 

" Did I not choose you twelve," said Jesus, "and one of you is a devil." 

Already evil spirits had tried to turn Judas away from the Lord by tempt- 
ing him, and he had let them into his heart. And Jesus, who knew all men, 
saw them there. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

A JOURNEY WITH JESUS. 

Jesus went away with His disciples into the " borders of Tyre and Sidon."^ 
He did not go to the Passover feast, for the anger of the Jews had been 
growing more violent toward Him and His disciples, and he took the twelve 
away from the crowded towns around the Lake into the parts that bordered 
upon a heathen country. He could do far more for the simple-hearted 
heathen than for Jews who believed themselves to be wise and religious. 

When it was known that the young teacher of Nazareth was among them 
some came to Him who were not Jews. One was a Syrian woman whose 




JESUS IN THE WHEAT FIEIvDS. 



200 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

daughter was troubled by an evil spirit, and she begged Jesus to have mercy 
upon her. The disciples were not pleased to have her follow them with 
strange cries in another language. They believed that the works of Jesus 
were for the Jews only, and so they begged Him to send her away. Jesus 
was silent, for He knew all hearts, and saw faith growing in the heart of the 
poor woman. 

He said, trying her faith, 

"It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs." 

"Truth, Lord," she said, "yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from 
their master's table." 

Then Jesus hid Himself no longer from her faith, but said. 

" O woman, great is thy faith ! be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And 
her daughter was cured that very hour. 

Jesus did not go down by the great sea, though He could see it lying 
like blue and silver across the west whenever He came to a hilltop as they 
journeyed, but He went northward to the hills that lie around the mountains 
of Lebanon. Upon these mountains grew the cedars that Solomon's servants 
cut down and carried to Jerusalem for the building of the Holy House. They 
stopped in the Lebanon villages, and came at length to the foot of Mount 
Hermon, and to the Jordan, crossing over and passing near the place where 
the great company who followed Jesus had been fed. As they came into De- 
capolis on the east side of the lake of Gennesaret the people came to Him in 
crowds again for healing. There He healed a man who could neither hear 
nor speak. 

Coming to Gadara He found crowds coming with their sick for healing. 
Eight months before He had healed a poor man in whom was a legion of 
devils, casting them out into a herd of swine, and they had begged Him to 
leave their coast for they were afraid of Him, but now they were glad to come 
to Him for healing. No doubt the man who had been healed had told them 
of the gentleness of Jesus, and of His wonderful words, and had brought 
many to Him. 

It was in Bethsaida-Julias that Jesus once opened the eyes of a blind 
man. He did not see clearly at first, but when Jesus laid His hand a second 
time upon his eyes he saw quite well, and was so grateful that he wanted to 
go and tell all his friends about it, but Jesus told him to go quietly home. 

Two blind men followed Him also, crying, "Thou Son of David, have 
mercy on us!" They followed Him into a house and there Jesus asked, 
"Believe ye that I am able to do this ?" " Yea, Lord," they said. 




JESUS WALKING ON THE WAVES. 



CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 



"According to your faith be it unto you," He said, touching their eyes, 
and their eyes were opened at once. 

Though Jesus had said, "See that no man know it," yet they told it 
through all that country. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH PETER's CONFESSION OF FAITH. 

Jesus was walking with His disciples one Sabbath day and talking of the 
Kingdom of Heaven when they came to a field of ripe grain. They had been 
gathering food for their souls from the teachings of Jesus, and had forgotten 
to take food for their bodies until they saw the ripe grain and knew that they 
were hungry. Some of them began to take the heads of wheat (or barley), 
to rub them in their hands to separate the grain from the chaff, and eat the 
kernels of wheat. 

Following close after them were some men who had been told to watch 
Jesus and His disciples, and see if anything could be brought against them. 

They held very strict views about keeping the Sabbath, as all Pharisees 
did, and here they saw something that might be called breaking the Sabbath, 
for were they not really reaping the wheat, and sifting it through their hands? 

"Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath 
day," they said. "The Son of Man," said Jesus, "is Lord even of the 
Sabbath day." 

Another Sabbath He entered into a synagogue and taught. Among the 
people stood a man who had a helpless and withered hand. The same 
Pharisees who had followed Jesus as spies when He walked through the 
grain-fields were watching Him in the Synagogue to see if He would heal on 
the Sabbath. He knew their thoughts, and called the man, saying, " Rise up 
and stand forth in the midst." 

The man rose, and while he stood waiting, Jesus turned to the Pharisees 
who were eagerly watching to see if Jesus would do something that was for- 
bidden in their law, and said, 

"Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil ? To save Hfe 
or to destroy it? " The Pharisees dared not answer, and Jesus, looking round 
upon them all, said to the man, " Stretch forth thy hand." 



THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH— PETER' S CONFESSION OF FAITH. 203 

The man obeyed. Although he had not been able to raise his hand, he 
stretched it forth, and it became as whole and as strong as the other. 

The Pharisees went away very angry, and tried to make a plan among 
themselves for bringing Jesus into trouble. 

Jesus came to fill the law about the Sabbath full of the spirit of heaven ; 
to teach love and service to the neighbor, as well as the love and worship of 
God, but they could not understand Him. 

Jesus was near the end of His ministry to the people east of the Jordan in 
the country called Decapolis. They were not like the Galilean Jews, they were 
half heathen people who lived among the wild, rocky hills of that region. They 
were poor and ignorant, yet they were more ready to accept the gospel than 
the wise and wicked Pharisees had been. 

He had been kind to them in their sickness and poverty, and they fol- 
lowed Him with their sick, and lame, and deaf, and blind, leaving them at His 
feet until they arose praising God that they had been saved from their suffer- 
ings. 

Jesus had been teaching in the wild mountain country, and the people 
would not leave Him to go away to their homes. After three days Jesus said 
to His disciples, " I have compassion on the multitude because they continue 
with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I will not send them 
away fasting lest they faint by the way." 

The disciples did not remember the Lord's power to create bread, and 
wondered where they should find it in the wilderness to feed such a great 
multitude. 

But when Jesus knew that they had seven loves of barley bread and a few 
little fishes He told the people to sit down on the ground, and after giving 
thanks over the loaves and the fishes. He divided them and gave to His disci- 
ples, and the disciples gave to the people. There were four thousand men 
beside women and children who took the bread that came from the Lord's 
hands. After all had eaten and were filled they took up seven baskets of the 
food that was left. 

Jesus, though He could create food for the people, taught them to use it 
wisely and waste nothing. 

When the people had been sent to their homes, Jesus, with His disciples, 
took a fishing boat and crossed the Lake only to find the Pharisees there ready 
to question Him, and to tempt Him to show them, some great sign from 
heaven. 



204 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

He told them that they could read the signs of the coming weather in the 
sky, but they could not see the signs of the times. 

Only a wicked people look for a sign, He said, and no sign should 
be given except the sign that Jonah gave to the Ninevites — a call to repent- 
ance. 

Then He left them, for He saw the hardness of their hearts. 

Again they took their journey in the little ship to the northern end of 
the Lake, and after landing, followed the east side of Jordan until they passed 
near the place where the five thousand had been fed by a miracle as they sat 
on the green hillside. 

The disciples found that they had forgotten to bring bread with them. 
They remembered, perhaps, that they had here eaten the bread that the Lord 
had created ; but the heart of Jesus was heavy with the thought of the unbe- 
lief of the people He had come to save, and He said, 

" Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 

The disciples did not understand Him, and wondered if He spoke thus 
because they had not brought bread. 

Then Jesus, seeing that they had but little faith, reminded them of the 
supper on the hillside, when more than five thousand were fed, and of that 
later meal among the rocky hills of Decapolis, when four thousand and more 
were fed, and that they did not need to be concerned about food for the 
body so much as to beware of the false teaching of the Pharisees and of the 
Sadducees. 

They walked still further north, directly toward that beautiful mountain 
that lifts its head, white with the glistening snow, high above the hills that lead 
up to it, so that it may be seen over the larger part of Palestine. 

They came to Caesarea Philippi, one of the most beautiful places in the 
world. It lay in the green lap of Mount Hermon high above the sea, and shut 
in by cliffs and forests. The upper springs of the Jordan are here. They leap 
out of a great cavern in the side of the mountain — a river of clear, cold water. 

The old Greeks loved the place, and built there a temple to the god of 
nature, but after the Romans came it was named for the Emperor and Philip 
the Tetrarch. Here there were more Gentiles than Jews, for it was a gay 
town in the summer, and people from other towns came to this city of palaces^ 
temples, baths, theatres, and statues. These people did not wish to hear the 
words of Jesus, but the coolness and beauty of the country around this birth- 
place of the Jordan made it a fit place to bring His disciples where they could 
talk over the things of the kingdom without being disturbed by the Pharisees. 



THE CHRISTIAN SABBtTTH— PETER'S CONFESSION OF FAITH. 205 

Here He was able to pray alone, and once, after prayer, He questioned His 
disciples about Himself. 

" Whom say the people that I am ?" He asked. They remembered their 
talks with the people and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elias, and 
others say that one of the old prophets is risen again." " But whom say ye 
that I am ?" He asked. Then Peter, the believing disciple, made his confes- 
sion of faith, — 

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus was glad to 
hear this, for many had come to doubt Him, and many had gone away from 
Him since they knew that He would not be an earthly king. 

"Blessed art thou Simon, son of Jonas," He said, "for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven." 

He saw that Peter's faith in the truth was like his name, which means "a 
rock," and so He said, 

"Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my church, and the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it." 

Peter's faith in the truth was also in the hearts of the other disciples for 
whom He spoke, and Jesus saw that they could now bear what he had to say 
to them without going away. 

He told them that He must soon go to Jerusalem and suffer many things 
from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, and that He should be 
killed by them, and rise again from the dead the third day. 

Even Peter's faith was shaken by this. How could the Son of God be 
killed? He could not believe His Master meant it so. 

"Be it far from thee. Lord," he said, "this shall not be unto thee." 

Jesus saw the spirit of fear and unbelief rising up in Peter, and to this — 
not to Peter himself — Jesus said, 

" Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me ; for thou 
savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." 

Then He plainly told them what they must be ready to meet if they 
followed Him. They must not hope for any earthly honors or riches, and 
they must put aside their own wishes and obey the Lord alone. 

He told them that whoever wished to live for this world alone would lose 
all, but whoever was willing to lose all for His sake should find eternal life, 

" For what is a man profited," He said, " if he shall gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

"AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY" A FATHER'S FAITH. 

Jesus stayed near Caesarea Philippi with His disciples for a week. The 
villagers were cutting the ripe grain, the vineyards were rich with clusters of 
the rich grapes that grew on the Lebanon hills, and the olives were 
ripening for the time when they would be put in the presses to make the 
delicious "oil olive." In that week He must have had many wonderful talks 
with the villagers. 

One evening, as they had come over the lower hills of Hermon, Jesus 
left the disciples to wait for Him below, taking only Peter and the brothers 
James and John with Him up the mount. They did not go to the very top 
but rested on one of the lower peaks. While Jesus went a little distance 
from them to pray, the three disciples, wrapped in their thick mantles, lay 
down to wait for Him. In that high clear air they seemed very near heaven. 
The stars seemed almost as near as the lights in the villages below. They 
were tired, and watching their Master in prayer, they fell asleep. While they 
slept they seemed to see a change in the face of Jesus as He prayed. It grew 
light with a strange inward glory, and all His garments became white and 
glistening like the snows of Hermon in the sun. They also saw two men 
with Him whom they seemed to know were Moses and Elias, who had gone 
to heaven centuries before. 

They also heard them talking with Jesus, and they spoke of the same 
thing that had troubled Peter when Jesus had spoken of it — that He should 
■die at Jerusalem. 

They awoke out of sleep, but the vision did not pass away like a dream, 
they still saw it all. 

But as it began to melt away, Peter said, hardly knowing what he said, 

" Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, 
one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." 

Then the glory around Jesus grew until it seemed Hke a bright cloud at 
sunset, and it came and wrapt them around in its soft brightness, and they 
were afraid. 

In the silence they heard a Divine voice, saying, 

" This is My beloved Son ; hear Him." 

(206) 



"AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY "—A FATHER'S FAITH. 207 

When the voice was passed they looked up and saw Jesus there alone- 
He was bending over them, touching them tenderly, and saying, 

"Arise, and be not afraid." 

As they came down the mountain He told them to tell no one of the 
visiop until after He had risen from the dead. 

It seemed to the disciples, no doubt, like coming down from heaven to 
earth when after a long walk and talk with Jesus in the summer morning 
they came near the village they had left, and found the people — among them 
some Jewish lawyers — disputing with the group of disciples there. As soon 
as they saw Jesus they all ran to Him, and greeted Him. 

One of the men explained what they were disputing about. 

" Master," he said, " I have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb 
spirit," and he described the frightful state into which it had brought his boy, 
and added that the disciples could not cast it out. 

" Bring him to me," said Jesus, and they brought him, the evil spirit 
within him throwing him into convulsions as they laid him at Jesus' feet. 

"How long is it ago since this came to him ?" said Jesus. 

"Of a child," said the father, "and ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire 
and into the waters to destroy him, but if thou canst do anything, have com- 
passion on us, and help us." Jesus said, 

" If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." 

Then the poor father cried out with tears, "Lord, I believe ; help thou 
mine unbelief! " 

The Lord did not wait for greater faith than this. He charged the evil 
spirit to come out of the boy, and after a great struggle it left him as one 
dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and he arose. 

" Why could not we cast him out ? " said the disciples afterward. 

"This kind," said Jesus, can come forth by nothing but by prayer and 
fasting." 

As they turned their steps toward home — the Lake side in Galilee — Jesus 
again spoke of the work that lay before Him. The disciples listened sadly, 
but could not understand why He should speak of being killed, and of rising 
again from the dead, and they dared not ask Him questions about it. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE LORD AND THE LITTLE ONES LEAVING GALILEE. 

As the Lord and His disciples walked over the hills into Galilee some of 
them fell behind wondering among themselves what He could mean when He 
spoke of being killed and of rising again. Perhaps they thought it only a sad- 
ness that would pass away, and so full of faith in His power were they that 
they could not believe that One who could raise the dead could Himself die. 

"He will be a King," they thought, and began to wonder who among 
them would be chosen to be greatest in His Kingdom, and even to quarrel 
about it. 

After they had reached Capernaum, and were at home again — probably in 
Peter's house — Jesus said to them, 

" What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way ? " 

There was no word from any one of them, for they were ashamed. Then 
the Lord sat down, and calling the twelve around Him, said gently, 

" If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant 
of all." 

A little child stood near listening, and wishing, perhaps, that he might be 
a grown man so that he also could be a disciple. 

Making room for him in the midst of them all. He called the child, Peter's 
child, perhaps, who came joyfully to Him. Taking Him tenderly in His arms 
He said, 

" Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name receiveth me, 
and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but Him that sent me." 

And He taught His disciples to be humble as a little child in these beau- 
tiful words : 

" Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the Kingdom of Heaven." 

" Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto 
you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which 
is in heaven." 

He also told them of the love of the Father in seeking His lost children. 

That if a shepherd had but lost one of his hundred sheep, he would leave all 

the others to go out into the wild mountains to look for the lost sheep. How 
(208; 



THE LORD AND THE LITTTLE ONES— LEAVING GALILEE. 209 

much more would the Father do for His own, and especially for His little 
ones. 

" Even so," He said, " it is not the will of your Father, which is in heaven, 
that one of these little ones should perish." 

Before going to the Feast at Jerusalem the Lord Jesus said many things 
to His disciples that would help them to be loving and forgiving toward each 
other and all the world, for they were very soon going to meet trouble which 
would try their love and their faith. He told them to deal gently with those 
who had done wrong, that they might win them back to the right way. He 
told them that they should have help from heaven when they asked for it, 
even if there should be only two to ask. 

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name," He said, 
"there am I in the midst of them." 

" How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ?" asked 
Peter, "till seven times?" 

"Until seventy times seven," said Jesus, and He did not mean that we 
should even count the number of times that we forgive. 

Then He told them a story of a forgiving king and an unforgiving 
servant that you may read in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. 

At the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, the people went up to Jerusalem 
to offer gifts in the golden Temple for the harvest that the Lord had given 
them, and to join in a praise service there. 

They brought oil, and wine, and wheat, and barley; dates, pomegranates, 
and figs — something of all they had gathered, and while they marched toward 
the holy city they sang joyful songs that David had written long before. 
When they reached Jerusalem they built bowers of branches cut from the 
trees and lived in them for a week. 

Even in the city the people came out of their houses and lived in bowers 
on the streets and public squares, or upon the flat roofs of the houses, and 
the hillsides round were covered with the green booths. 

The brothers of Jesus came down to Capernaum on their way to the 
Feast at Jerusalem, and they asked their elder Brother to go also into Judea 
and show Himself to the world, that His miracles might be seen of all, for 
they did not believe in Him yet. But Jesus said, 

" My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready." 

So they went on their journey, and Jesus stayed in Galilee. 

After a few days He set His face toward Jerusalem, taking the shortest 
way through Samaria. The Samaritans were not friendly to the Jews, and 



2IO CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

the disciples, who had been sent on before to find lodging for the company in 
a village, were not allowed to bring their Master there. 

The gentle John and his brother James were angry that unkindness was 
shown to Jesus, and wished to call down fire from heaven to destroy the 
villagers, but Jesus said, 

" Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of, for the Son of Man has 
not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." 

And they went to another village. On the way they found men who 
wished to follow Jesus as the disciples did, but while some were ready to leave 
all, others wished to first bid their friends farewell, or bury their dead, but 
Jesus saw something in their hearts that showed that they were not fit for the 
Kingrdom of God. 

There were many beside the twelve who fully believed in Jesus, and 
were ready to tell others of the coming kingdom, so He sent them out to all 
the places where he intended to go, until there were seventy of them preach- 
ing the good news. They went, saying, " The Kingdom of God is come unto 
you," and they healed the sick in Jesus' name. When they returned they 
were full of joy, saying, 

"Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name." But 
Jesus said, "Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather 
rejoice because your names are written in heaven." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

AT THE HOUSE OF MARTHA THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 

While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem a lawyer came and asked Him 
questions. He did not want to be a disciple, yet he asked what he should do 
to have eternal life. 

Jesus asked him what the commandments said about it, and the lawyer 
repeated the two great commandments concerning love to the Lord and to 
the neighbor. 

"Thou hast answered right," Jesus replied. "This do and thou shalt 
live." 

" And who is my neighbor ?" said the lawyer. 




THE MOTHERS OF JERUSALEM. 



212 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Then Jesus told a story of a man who went down to Jericho, and was 
nearly killed by thieves. A priest came that way and when he saw a man 
who needed help he passed by on the other side of the road. So did a 
Levite, one of the helpers in the temple worship, but a Samaritan (and the 
Samaritans were despised by the Jews) came that way, and he stopped in 
pity for the poor man, dressed his wounds, set him upon his own beast and 
broueht him to an inn and took care of him. When he left the inn he also 
left money for his care, with the promise of more if it should be needed. 
Then Jesus asked the lawyer which of these three men was neighbor to him 
who fell among thieves. 

" He that showed mercy on him," said the lawyer. Then said Jesus 
unto him, 

" Go thou and do likewise." 

As Jesus came near to Jerusalem He passed through Bethany, a little 
town at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where perhaps some of His disciples 
had been preaching the new gospel before Him. There He was gladly 
received into the house of Martha, who prepared the table with her own hands 
to offer the best in her house to her honored Guest. She had a brother 
named Lazarus, who was probably at the feast in Jerusalem, and a younger 
sister named Mary who loved to listen to every word that Jes-us spoke. As 
every family built a bower of branches during this feast to remind them that 
for forty years they lived in such houses in the wilderness while coming out 
of Egy^pt, there must have been one in the court of Martha's house, and there, 
perhaps, Jesus rested while Mar}^ sat at His feet and heard His word. 

Martha was very busy serving her honored guest, and thought Mary 
ought to help her in the house, but Jesus said, " Martha, Martha, thou art 
careful and troubled about many things ; but one thing is needful, and Mary 
hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her." 

When the Feast of Tabernacles was at its height Jesus came up to 
the Temple at Jerusalem. The people had been looking for Him, and 
as soon as the noble, earnest-faced young Teacher was seen walking in 
the marble court of the Temple they thronged around Him to hear Him 
teach, or to see if He would do any miracle. 

Some wondered at His wisdom and His doctrine, and asked where it 
came from, " My doctrine is not mine," He said, "but His that sent me. 
If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine." 

He taught them many things that day, and hinted at the same thing that 
had troubled His disciples, and these were His words, 




JESUS IN THE HOUSE AT BETHANY, 



214 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto Him that sent me. 
Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and where I am thither ye cannot 
come." 

The priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees were listening, and He knew 
that their hearts were too full of pride and self-love to receive His word. 
They could not go to Him, for they would not let Him come into their hearts. 

On the last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried to the 
people who were about to go back to their homes. His great heart was 
breaking to bring them into the Kingdom of Heaven, and He knew that 
they would be scattered as sheep having no shepherd. 

" If any man thirst," He cried, " let him come unto me and drink." And 
He then promised to such as believe the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, and to 
flow out toward all the world like rivers of living water. 

So wonderKilly did He preach that many said, " Of a truth this is a 
prophet," and others said, "This is the Christ," while others were filled with 
anger and wished to arrest Him. Indeed, when the priests- and Pharisees 
urged the officers to take Him, they said, 

"Never man spake like this man," and they would not lay hands on 
Him. 

But Nicodemus, a learned doctor of the law, was a friend of Jesus. He 
it was who had a talk with Him one night under the olive trees about the 
Spirit — the breath of God, and he with wise words turned the hatred of the 
Jews away from Jesus for the time, and they went to their own houses. 

Jesus taught in the Temple again the next day, and all the people came 
to listen. 

It was here, perhaps, that the wicked Scribes and Pharisees brought to 
Him a poor woman who had sinned. They told Him that according to the law 
she ought to be stoned, and asked what He would say about it. He did not 
answer, but seemed to be writing on the ground before Him as though He 
did not hear them. At last, because they would have an answer He looked 
at them saying, 

"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone," and 
He wrote again on the ground. No one answered Jesus, but one by one 
they went away too much ashamed to speak. " Hath no man condemned 
thee? " asked Jesus of the woman standing sorrowful and alone. 

" No man, Lord," she said. 

" Neither do I condemn thee," He said, "go and sin no more," 

Then Jesus sitting in the Treasury of the Temple said, 




THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 



2i6 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

"I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in 
darkness but shall have the light of life." 

Many other things He said that His enemies tried to turn against Him, 
and the healing on the Sabbath day of a man who had been born blind 
stirred the anger of the Jews against Him, so that they sought by much 
questioning to accuse Jesus of sin, not knowing that they were themselves 
spiritually blind. 

But He turned from them to call to the people again as He did on the 
last day of the Feast, for in His love and pity He longed to bring the lost 
children of Israel to Himself that He might bless them, as a shepherd brings 
back the sheep that stray from the fold. 

"I am the Good Shephered ; and I know my own, and my own know 
me," said Jesus, "even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father ; 
and I lay down my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not 
of this fold ; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and they 
shall become one flock, one Shepherd." 

Other beautiful and blessed words He said about the Shepherd and His 
flock which are written in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, but the 
learned Jews would not listen to Him, and thrice tried to kill Him by stoning 
Him, but they could not harm Him, for His time had not come. 

Then he went away beyond Jordan, where John first baptized, and many 
believed on Him there. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE LESSON STORIES OF JESUS. 

When Jesus was at prayer His disciples stood reverently apart from Him, 
and one day a disciple came near when he had ceased and said, 

" Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." 

Then the Lord taught them the beautiful prayer that is now said daily 
all around the world, and known to every one of us, beginning, " Our Father 
which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name." 

And He told them how pleased God is to have His children ask Him for 
what they need, or come to Him in trouble. 

"Ask, and it shall be given you," He said; "seek, and ye shall find; 
knock and it shall be opened unto you." 




THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL. 



2i8 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

" If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a 
stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent ?" 

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good gifts to them that ask 
Him ?" 

It was while the Lord was teaching in the country called Peraea, east of 
Jordan, that He told many things that His disciples remembered and wrote in 
a book afterward, when the Holy Spirit had come to " bring all things to their 
remembrance," as He had promised. 

He had been teaching three years, and was thirty-three years of age. 

Some of the people who lived at Bethabara, by Jordan, were present 
when He was baptized by John, and they were glad to have him stay among 
them and teach, for they were a kindly people, and though not learned like 
the men who were often to be found in the Temple courts and in the Syna- 
gogues, they were the common people who, hearing the word and loving it, 
were wiser than the Pharisees. 

The Lord told many stories that these people would remember, and 
afterward understand by the teaching of His Spirit which He said would be 
given to them. You will read all of them in the Gospels, but here we cannot 
tell them all. 

The story of "The Fig-tree in the Vineyard," "The Great Supper," and 
"The Foolish Rich Man " were stories of warning to those who were turning 
away from the things of heaven to the things of the world, and they were 
meant for all who should read them in the ages of the world. 

So were the three stories — they are called " parables " in the Gospels — 
of the lost things ; " The lost sheep," " The lost piece of money," and " The 
lost son." They were given to us to show the great love of the Heavenly 
Father for His children, and His constant care in seeking for them when they 
are wandering away from Him. These stories are the voice of the Father 
always and everywhere calling His children home, and many a poor soul has 
turned homeward with tears of repentance after reading them. 

One of these stories of lost things will be told here, but it is far more 
beautiful in the language of the Scriptures. 

There was once a rich man who had two sons, and the younger one 
came to him and said, 

"Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." 

And so the father divided his property, and gave the younger brother his 
share. In a few days he had gathered it all together and settled his affairs 



LESSON STORIES FROM JESUS. 21^ 

so that he could go away. He went into a distant country, and there he 
spent all that he had among bad people who seemed to be his friends, but 
were really his worst enemies. 

When all that he had was spent there came a time of great trouble. 
There was very little food in the land, for there was a famine, and he was 
obliged to go to work for the little he could get. It was not easy to find 
work, for the only thing he could do was to hire himself to a man who 
kept pigs. His work was to stay in the fields and feed them with husks, the 
hard pods of the carob tree. Sometimes he was so hungry that he would 
have been glad to eat even these, but " no man gave unto him." Then the 
young man " came to himself." 

"How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to 
spare," he said, "and I perish with hunger ! 

" I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ' Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called 
thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants.' " 

The father must have been watching for his lost boy, for while he was yet 
a great way off he saw him, and ran to meet him. He put his arms around 
him and kissed him without once speaking of his sins, and he called his 
servants to bring the best robe and put it on him, and a ring for his hand, and 
shoes for his feet, and then to kill the fatted calf to make a feast for all, 

"For," he said "this my son was dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, 
and is found." 

The elder son had been away in the field but when he came home heard 
music and dancing, and called to a servant to ask what these things meant. 
When he had heard he was very angry, and would not go in. His father 
came out to beg him to come in and greet his brother, but he said. 

"Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any 
time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might 
make merry with my friends." But the father said, 

" Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet 
that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is 
alive again, and was lost and is found." 

There are other stories told by Jesus while in Persea, which you will find 
in the gospel by Luke, the beloved physician. One is about the " Unjust 
Steward," and another is the story of the "Unjust Judge." Still another is 
called " Dives and Lazarus," or the " Rich man and the Beggar." 

The parable of "The Pharisee and the Publican," describes two men who 



220 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 

The Pharisee prayed with himself, thus, " God, I thank thee that 1 am not 
as other men are, or even as this publican, I fast twice a week. I giv^e 
tithes of all I possess." 

And the publican, standing afar off, dared not even lift his eyes to 
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, " God be merciful to me a sinner !" 

"This man," said Jesus, " went down to his house justified rather than 
the other ; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that 
humbleth himself shall be exalted." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE VOICE THAT WAKED THE DEAD THE CHILDREN 

OF THE KINGDOM. 

While Jesus and His disciples were still east of the Jordan trouble fell 
upon the happy home in Bethany where Jesus had been an honored guest. 
A messenger was sent to Jesus in great haste, saying, 

"Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." 

It was from Mary and Martha concerning their brother Lazarus. 

Jesus sent the messenger back with this message, 

"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son 
of God might be glorified thereby," and He remained two days longer where 
He was. Then He said, 

" Let us go into Judea again." 

The disciples reminded Him that the Jews there had tried to take His 
life. 

"Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," said Jesus, "but I go that I may awaken 
him out of sleep." 

The disciples thought that if he slept he was doing very well, until Jesus 
told them plainly, 

"Lazarus is dead." 

Then Thomas was full of sorrow and said, 

" Let us also go that we may die with him." 

Bethany was not far from Jerusalem, and when they reached the house 
of Martha, Lazarus had been dead four days, and was placed in a rock tomb. 




JESUS WEPT. 



222 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Many Jews from Jerusalem had come out to Bethany to comfort Mary and 
Martha, and to mourn for their friend Lazarus. 

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she ran to meet Him, but 
Mary sat still in the house. She thought, perhaps, that He had come too 
late, and the same thought may have been in Martha's mind when she said, 

" Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died, but I know that 
even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee." 

"Thy brother shall rise again," said Jesus." 

I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day," she 
said. 

Then Jesus spoke those heavenly words that have been the comfort of 
the sorrowful ever since, 

"I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in me 
shall never die. Believest thou this?" 

"Yea, Lord," answered Martha, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the 
Son of God which should come into the world." 

Then she called Mary quietly, so that the people who were noisily 
wailingf should not hear. 

" The Master is come and calleth for thee," she said. 

Then Mary rose quickly and went to meet Jesus. The people who were 
trying to comfort her followed her, for they thought she was going to the 
tomb to weep there ; but they saw her go to meet Jesus and fall at His feet 
saying, as Martha did, 

" Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." 

When Jesus saw the tears of Mary and her sister and their friends He 
wept also, not for Lazarus, but His heart was moved for them, and He 
shared their sorrow. 

They brought Him to the tomb — a cave with a stone lying upon it. 
When He asked them to take away the stone Martha's faith began to fail ; 
but the stone was rolled away, and when Jesus had prayed He called with a 
loud voice, 

" Lazarus, come forth ! " 

And all who were bending forward toward the low, dark door of the 
tomb saw a man wrapped in linen come forth from the darkness and try to 
ascend the stone steps. 

"Loose him and let him go," said Jesus. And then there was a scene 




THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. 



224 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

SO full of sacred joy that John, the disciple, who tells the story, does not show- 
it to us. 

After this many believed in Jesus, but others went and told the Pharisees 
all about it. 

It was spring in Peraea, and the valley of the Jordan was full of the sing- 
ing of birds and the color of blooming trees and wild flowers, while in the 
fields the young wheat was growing. The people thronged to Jesus in 
crowds, for He taught them in the open air. The disciples were busy with 
the people, explaining to the dull, listening to those who wished to ask some- 
thing of the Master, or keeping back the curious. This had to be done in 
every village through which they passed. There were many mothers with 
their children around them who came out of their low white houses to follow 
Jesus in the way, and to listen when He sat down to teach. 

The mothers loved to have the Rabbi's bless their children, for since the 
days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the blessing of a good man means much 
to the Israelite. 

One day some mothers brought their little ones to Jesus, and begged 
Him to bless them. The disciples told the mothers to stand back, and not 
trouble the Master while he was teaching. Jesus knew what they were say- 
ing, and He called them unto Him and said, 

" Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such 
is the Kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive 
the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." 

In this way he made it clear to His disciples, to the mothers, and to all 
who have read His word since that day, that every child is a citizen of the 
Lord's Kingdom, and dear to the heart of the King. 

Perhaps the mothers had heard that the Lord was about to leave the 
country east of Jordan to go up to Jerusalem, and they longed to have their 
little ones share in the blessing they had received while sitting at the feet of 
the great Teacher and learning of Him, for soon after He crossed the Jor- 
dan, and, teaching as he went, set His face toward Jerusalem. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE YOUNG MAN THAT JESUS LOVED. 

A rich young ruler came running after Jesus one day, saying, 

"Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 

So eager was he to know that he knelt before Jesus by the road side. 

Jesus spoke gently to him telling him that God alone is good, and that 
he knew the commandments that God had given. 

"All these have I kept from my youth up," said the young man. 

As Jesus looked upon him He saw that he was really trying to be good, 
and hoping that he could do some great and good act that w^ould give him a 
certain entrance into heaven. He had been taught by the Rabbis that men 
were saved by keeping the law and doing outward works of righteousness. 
He did not know that heaven must begin in his own heart. 

Jesus, reading his heart, loved him, and longed to have him know the 
truth. 

"Yet lackest thou one thing," he said, "sell all that thou hast and dis- 
tribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come, 
follow me." 

When he heard these words the young man turned away and lost the 
eager look with which he had come to the Lord's feet. He was very sorrow- 
ful, for he was very rich, and he found that he loved his riches more than he 
loved anything else. 

"How hardly," said Jesus, "shall they that have riches enter into the 
Kingdom of God ! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye 
than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." 

" Who then can be saved ? " asked one. 

"The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God," He 
said. 

"Lo, we have left all," said Peter, " and followed Thee," and then the Lord 
gave to His disciples that promise that has been proven true by millions of 
His children for ages past, — 

"There is no man who hath left house or parents, or brethren, or wife, 
or children for the Kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold 
more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." 

(225) 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 

When Jesus and His disciples were finally on the way to Jerusalem 
Jesus went before them, and the shadow of the great trial He was about to 
suffer cast its shadow upon Him. The disciples saw it, and Mark says that 
"they were amazed ; and as they followed, they were afraid." He told them 
all about the trial and the death that lay before Him, but so unwilling were 
they to believe it, and so sure were they that He would be made king of the 
Jews, that two of them brought their mother to Jesus to ask that her two 
sons might sit next to Him when He should come to the throne. 

"Ye know not what ye ask," He said, "can ye drink of the cup that I 
drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" and 
they said, 

"We can," not knowing that He spoke of suffering and death. 

He told them that though they would indeed drink of His cup. He had 
no honors to give them. 

Then, when the others were vexed with James and John for their foolish 
request, He talked to them all tenderly about the grace of humility. 

"Whosoever of you who will be chiefest," He said, "shall be servant of 
all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
ister, and to give His life a ransom for many." 

It was the time of the Passover Feast at Jerusalem, and as they crossed 
at the Fords of Jordan and went over the Jericho plain they must have joined 
some of the groups of joyful people who were going up to the Feast, some 
on camels and asses, and some walking beside the beasts bearing tents or 
merchandise. The valley of the Jordan was bright with the freshness of 
spring, and as they came near Jericho with its rose-gardens, and orchards, 
and feathery palms, it looked like the gardens of Paradise. It was sometimes 
called Jericho "the perfumed" because of its great gardens of roses, and its 
balsam plantations from which they made perfumes that were sold in all the 
East. It was warm even in winter there, and no frosts destroyed its tropical 
fruits and flowers. The rich plain was made fertile by two springs that sent 

their waters through trenches all through these gardens and orchards. One 

(226) 



THE LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 227 

is called the " Elisha Spring," because the prophet made its poisonous 
waters pure by casting salt into them. 

And so the Passover pilgrims entered Jericho. 

There was in Jericho a man named Zaccheus, who, like Matthew of 
Capernaum, was a rich tax-gatherer. He wanted to see Jesus as He passed, 
but the crowd was great, and he was a small man, so he ran before the people 
and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him. 

As Jesus passed the tree He looked up and said, 

" Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy 
house." 

Zaccheus came down in great haste, and was full of joy to be able to 
entertain Jesus, though some complained that a sinner should have the honor 
of taking the Master into his house. 

Zaccheus must have heard these cruel remarks, for he said humbly, 

"Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have 
taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." 

Then Jesus said heartily, "This day is salvation come to this house, for- 
somuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to 
seek and to save that which was lost." 

It was just outside of Jericho that the bands going out toward Jerusalem 
passed a blind beggar who cried, 

"Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!" 

The Lord heard the cry and called him, and there by the roadside He 
opened the eyes of Bartimeus to see the beauty all around him, and the kind 
face of Jesus looking at him. And he followed Him. 

The pilgrims came up the steep, rocky road from Jericho to Jerusalem, 
and they were fortunate who could ride, for the heat was great, and. the road 
hard to climb. Jesus and His friends walked, for they were poor men, as 
riches are counted in this world. 

It was a six hours' journey, and when they reached the green heights of 
the Mount of Olives they turned aside to the village of Bethany, and there 
Jesus rested in the house of Mary and Martha and the brother whom He 
had called back from the grave. The disciples were lodged in the town, no 
doubt, among their friends, and so grateful and happy were they of Bethany 
to have the Lord once more among them that they made a supper to show 
their joy at His coming. It was at the house of Simon, who had been a 
leper, and cured, perhaps, by Jesus, and Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus, 
and Mary and Martha served. 



2 28 CHILD'S STORY OF TI^E BIBLE. 

It was a holy, happy time, yet shadowed with sadness because of the 
words of Jesus concerning His death, which the disciples could not believe. 

In the midst of the supper Mary brought an alabaster box of very pre- 
cious and costly perfume, and poured it upon the head of Jesus and also upon 
His feet, wiping them with her long hair. Judas, one of the twelve, frowned 
upon her, and said it was a waste, for the perfume might have been sold for 
money to give to the poor. 

But Jesus knew what Mary did. 

" Let her alone," He said, "against the day of my burying hath she kept 
this ; for the poor always ye have with you ; but me ye have not always." 

" She hath done what she could." 

" Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, 
this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE PRINCE OF PEACE. 

It was in the lovely spring time of a land that scarcely knows winter that 
a strange and beautiful scene made Jerusalem still more beautiful. Over the 
Mount of Olives, where the olive and the fig-trees were in tender leaf, came 
a procession of people crying, 

" Hosanna ; blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the 
Lord ! " 

The road was crowded with people who with lifted faces and songs of 
praise waved branches of palm as they walked before and beside Jesus, who 
was riding toward Jerusalem, seated upon a young ass, after the manner of 
the kings and prophets of ancient Israel. 

After Jesus and His friends had left Bethany to go to Jerusalem He had 
sent two of His disciples to a village near by to bring to Him an ass, with its 
colt, that they would find tied there, and they were to say to the owner of the 
asses, "The Lord hath need of them," that the words of the prophet might 
be fulfilled, 

"Tell ye the daughter of Zion, 'Behold thy king cometh unto thee, 
meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.' " 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 229 

While the Lord and His friends were coming up the Mount of Olives, 
many people from Jerusalem who knew that He was on His way came to 
meet Him, and when the two disciples brought to Jesus the ass upon which 
He was to ride they placed Him upon it, and spreading their garments in the 
way, and with waving palms and singing they came over the ridge of the 
Mount of Olives from which they could see Mount Zion shining before them. 
The Pharisees had come out to see what it meant and were angry. "See — the 
world is gone after Him!" they said, but Jesus, when they asked Him to stop 
the praises of the people, told them that the very stones would cry out if the 
people should hold their peace. As they came to a point in the road where 
from a smooth rocky height they could see the great city with its temple 
before them, the whole company stopped, and Jesus, beholding it, wept over 
it saying, 

"If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which 
belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes !" 

And He spoke of the days when enemies should surround the Holy City, 
and lay it even with the ground, because they knew not the time of their 
visitation. Fifty years after the Romans took the Holy City and burned the 
beautiful Temple, and put uncounted people to death. And so Jesus went 
down through the valley of the Kedron and up through the city gates with 
the great procession that grew at every step until He came to His Father's 
House — the Temple. Then He looked about and saw the buyers and sellers 
again making the Temple a market, but He went silently away with His 
friends to Bethany again. He had entered the city as the Prince of Peace, 
not as a Roman Emperor would do, with sound of trumpet and the tread of 
armed legions, and they knew not the time of their visitation. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

The next morning Jesus went early with His disciples to the Temple. It 
was on the way as they went over the Mount of Olives that they passed a 
barren fig-tree — one that bore nothing but leaves. It was like the Pharisees, 
who outwardly seemed to be religious, but were inwardly evil, and bore none 
of the fruits of a religious life. 



230 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

"Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever," said Jesus, and it 
withered away. When the disciples wondered, Jesus said, 

" If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done 
to the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, ' Be thou removed, 
and be thou cast into the sea,' it shall be done. And all things whatsoever 
ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." When Jesus came again 
to the Temple He drove out the buyers and sellers and the money-changers, 
as He had done before. 

" It is written," He said, " 'My house is the house of prayer, but ye have 
made it a den of thieves.' " 

When they had been driven out, the people M^ho had been waiting for 
Jesus, and the blind and the lame came to Him, and He healed all who came. 
The Pharisees looked on with hatred in their hearts, and talked with the priests 
of arresting Him then and there, but a clear, sweet sound of young voices 
singing came floating through the temple courts, and they saw bands of 
children who were crying, " Hosanna to the Son of David!" and it rang like 
heavenly music through all the place. 

" Hearest thou what these say?" cried the angry Pharisees, and Jesus 
answered, "Yea ; have ye never read, 'Out of the mouths of babes and suck- 
lings thou hast perfected praise?' " Then He left them and went again to 
Bethany to rest in the house of His faithful friends, Martha, and Mary, and 
Lazarus. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE LAST DAY IN THE TEMPLE. 

It was on a Tuesday that Jesus came again early to the Temple. It was 
the last day of His teaching there and He filled it with wonderful sayings that 
have been taught in thousands of Christian temples for nearly two thousand 
years. The chief priests and elders, who were full of anger because He had 
acted as if He had a right to say who should come into the Temple courts, 
came to Him as He was teaching and said, 

" By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this 
authority?" Jesus answered them by asking a question, "The baptism of 
John, whence was it ? from heaven, or of men ? " They could not answer, for 




"HOSANNA!" 



232 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

they said in their own minds, " If we shall say ' From heaven,' He will say, 
' Why did you not then believe him;' but if we shall say 'Of men,' we fear the 
people, for all men hold John as a prophet." And so they said, "We cannot tell." 

And Jesus answered, " Neither tell I you by what authority I do these 
things." They could not find what they wanted — something to accuse Him 
of before the Jewish Council and so they tried to lead Him to say something 
that would turn the Romans against Him. They came to Him with flattering 
words, saying that they knew that He taught the way of God truly, and would 
He tell them if it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? He saw their 
deceit and cunning, and said, "Why tempt ye me? Show me a penny. 
Whose image and superscription is this?" They told Him it was Caesars. 
'Render therefore," He said, "unto Caesar the things which be Caesars, 
and to God the things which be God's." 

They wondered much at the wisdom of His answer, and could find 
nothing whereof to accuse Him, but perhaps they never knew what He 
really meant to say to them — and to us also — that His Kingdom was not of 
this world. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE LAST WORDS IN THE TEMPLE. 

On this day also, as Jesus sat near the treasury of the Temple and saw 
the rich, and the self-righteous casting their money into the boxes placed 
there, He saw a poor widow come with her mourning dress showing that 
she was the poorest of the poor — a pauper — and yet she had something to 
give: she dropped two "mites" into one of the boxes under the marble 
colonnade that surrounded the court of the women. Taken together these 
two coins were worth much less than a penny, but they were "all her living," 
and though the Lord did not speak to her, as far as we know, He saw her 
faith, and His blessing must have reached her in ways that we know nothing 
about. To those who stood about Him He said, " Of a truth I say unto you 
that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all ; for all these have of 
their abundance cast into the offerings of God ; but she of her penury hath 
cast in all the living that she had." 

Jesus, who "spake as never man spake," preached the new Gospel of 
the Kingdom by means of stories, or parables, and on one long day of teach- 




SHOWING THE PENNY. 



13 



234 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

ing in the Temple He told several stories that the people never forgot. Two 
of them were stories of the vineyard. One of them was of a man who sent 
his two sons into his vineyard to work. One answered "I will not," but 
afterward repented and went, while the other, who had said " I go sir," went 
not. Jesus taught in this that real sinners who at first refuse to enter God's 
kingdom but afterward repent and enter, are better than the heartless hypo- 
crites who talk much of their religion but are inwardly evil. 

The other story was of a certain householder who owned a vineyard and 
let it out to some men while he took a journey into a far country. When the 
time of the fruit drew near he sent his servants to the men who had rented 
the vineyard, that they might receive the fruits of it, but the men beat one 
servant, and stoned another, and killed another. When the owner sent other 
servants they treated them in the same way. Then he sent his son saying, 
"They will reverence my son," but the men determined to kill the heir and 
take the vineyard for themselves, and they cast out the son of the lord of the 
vineyard and killed him. In this story He spoke of His own death, as well as 
that of the prophets and John the Baptist before Him. 

The chief priests and Pharisees, when they heard this parable knew that 
the Lord spoke of them, and they tried again to take Him by force, but 
feared the people. 

Another story told in the Temple that day was of the " Marriage of the 
King's Son " which you will find in the twenty-second chapter of Matthew. It 
shows first how the Jews were asked into the Kingdom of Christ, but refused 
to come, and their city was given over to their enemies to destroy. In the 
second part of the parable the call of all nations to come into Christ's 
kingdom is described, and the man who was found at the feast without a 
wedding garment, describes those who come into the church without real 
faith in the Lord Jesus, and are not prepared to enter heaven. " For many 
are called," said Jesus, "but few are chosen." 

Knowing the wickedness of the priests and Pharisees, who stood before 
the people as more holy than others, the Lord ended His last day in the 
Temple with words to them that must have been sharper than a sword, and 
more burning than flames of fire. These words are in the twenty-third chapter 
of Matthew, and may no child who reads them ever live to deserve to hear 
them for himself To the hypocrite alone the Lord was stern and severe, but 
to the sinner who truly repented He was full of forgiving love. After telling 
them of the sorrows and desolations that must fall upon the Holy City because 
of the sins of those who should be true and faithful teachers of their holy 




THE TWO MITES. 



236 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

religion, He sent forth these last words of love and sorrow through the 
Temple courts, 

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them 
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children 
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would 
not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate, for I say unto you, ye shall 
not see me henceforth till ye shall say, ' Blessed is He that cometh in the 
name of the Lord.' " And He went out of the Temple to return no more. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

AN EVENING ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 

Jesus and His friends went out from the Temple and Jerusalem to the 
Mount of Olives, and as they looked back upon the beautiful buildings of 
marble and gold that made the Temple seem like a great jewel shining in the 
sunset, the disciples turned to Jesus and spoke of it, but He said, 

"There shall not be left here one stone that shall not be thrown down." 

They sat down on the slope of Olivet where the olive and fig-trees were 
putting forth their new leaves, and in that quiet time Peter, and James, and 
John, and Andrew drew close about their beloved Master, and said, "Tell us, 
when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the 
end of the world? " He told them many things hard to be understood ; of 
the sorrows of Israel when their city should be destroyed, and the people 
scattered ; of the end of the age, when they should turn to the Lord they had 
rejected, and of His coming to the whole world. 

"Watch, therefore," He said, "for ye know not what hour your Lord doth 
come," and He told them of the faithful and the unfaithful servants; that the 
one was found doing his duty when his lord returned, and was made ruler 
over all his goods, but the other, unfaithful in all things, was surprised by his 
lord's coming and cast out. 

He told them another beautiful "watching" story of the Ten Virgins who 
went forth with their little lamps to meet the bridegroom on his way to the 
marriage feast. Five of them took oil to fill their lamps, and five took no oil 
with them. The bridegroom was long in coming, and they all fell asleep ; but 
at midnight there was a cry, " Behold the bridegroom cometh ! go ye out to 
meet him !" Then they all arose and trimmed their lamps, but five of the 
lamps had gone out, and the foolish maids who brought no oil to fill them 



THE HOLY SUPPER. 237 

begged it of the others, but they were told that they must go and buy it of 
those who had it to sell. While they went to buy the bridegroom came, and 
they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. 
Afterward, when the five thoughtless ones came to the door crying, " Lord, 
Lord, open to us !" they only heard the answer, " I know you not." 

After this He told them the story of the Talents, which you may read in 
the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. It is the Lord's teaching to all disciples 
about making the most of the life He gives us. 

His last story was a picture of the gathering of the nations, and the 
separation of the good and the true from the false and the evil. The King's 
call to the good, " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the world," carried with it a strange 
reason. " For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye 
gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed 
me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." 

Then the good whom He had called were astonished, and cried, " Lord, 
when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee ? or thirsty, a stranger, sick, 
or in prison?" and He answered, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." To the false and 
the evil He could not say these things, but quite the opposite ; and when they 
wondered when they had seen the Lord hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or 
naked, or sick, or in prison, and had not ministered unto Him, He said, 
"Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." 
Those by a life of love and service had chosen eternal life, but these by a 
life of selfishness had chosen death. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE HOLY SUPPER. 

There were two more days before the Passover Feast when Jesus would 
eat the Paschal Supper with His disciples. He spent the time with them try- 
ing to help them to bear the great trial that was before them, and which 
would shake their faith in Him to the utmost. They still beUeved that some 
great miracle would break around them like light in the darkness, and that 
Jesus would be acknowledged as the Messiah for whom the whole nation was 



238 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

waiting and yet the shadow grew deeper. The faith of one had failed. Judas 
had secretly hoped that Jesus would be made king, and that His disciples 
would be honored with riches and power, but little by little this hope had been 
dying, and little by little his heart had been turning away from his Master and 
his brethren, until, with the resolve to forsake the Lord, he opened the door 
of his heart to Satan, who began to enter in and possess him. 

The high priest and the elders were plotting against Jesus in their 
council, and Judas, leaving Bethany and the company of the Lord and His 
disciples, went over the road he had so often walked with Jesus with a 
thought from Satan burning in his heart. He loved money more than every- 
thing else, and there was but one thing that would bring it now since all hope 
of Jesus becoming a king was past. 

He went to the Temple and asked to be taken before the rulers, and he 
said to them, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?" 
There was a bargain made at once, and out of the Temple treasury they 
weighed him thirty pieces of silver, and he carried them away with the promise 
that he would watch Jesus, and tell them when and where they could take Him. 
He did not remember that five hundred years before the prophet Zechariah had 
written, "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver." 

On Thursday morning, the first day of the Feast, Jesus sent Peter and 
John to prepare a place where He should hold the Paschal Supper with 
His disciples in the evening. He told them to go into the city, and there 
they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of water, and if they would follow 
him he would show them a large upper room furnished. There they were to 
make ready the Passover. 

They found it as He had said, and when the lamb had been slain at the 
Temple, the feast prepared, and the hour was come, the Lord sat down with 
the twelve. It was the last time that He would break the bread of the Pass- 
over with them before He suffered, and it was to be the first Holy Supper of 
the Christian Church. "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with 
you before I suffer ;" He said, "for I say unto you that I will not any more eat 
thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." Before Him were the 
cakes of unleavened bread, the wine, the water and the herbs, while the Paschal 
Lamb was on a side table. After the blessing and the thanks, the Lord filled a 
cup with wine and water, and blessing and tasting it passed it to His disciples. 
It was the custom for the master of the feast to wash his hands at this point, 
and Jesus rose, and laid aside His tunic, and tying a long towel around His 
waist, poured water into a large basin and going to His disciples knelt down 



THE HOLY SUPPER. 



239 



to wash their feet. They had been contending as to who should sit nearest 
to the Lord, and so be accounted greatest, and He thus taught them a lesson 
of humility. He told them that they were not to be among those who hold 
authority. " But he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger," 
He said, "and he that is chief as he that dotK serve." The disciples looked 
on astonished and distressed, for their Master was doing the work that slaves 
were in the habit of doing, and Peter cried, " Lord, dost thou wash my feet? " 
Jesus said gently, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know 
hereafter." "Thou shalt never wash my feet;" said the loving, impulsive 
Peter, and Jesus answered, "If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me." 
"Lord, not my feet only," the humbled disciple said, "but also my hands and 
my head !" When He sat down with them again He talked tenderly to them 
of serving each other as He had served them, adding, "If ye know these 
things, happy are ye if ye do them." With a troubled spirit He said, 
" Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table." Then 
the disciples began to inquire sorrowfully among themselves who it could be, 
and to ask the Lord in turn, " Is it I ?" Even Judas, close beside Him, asked 
the same question, but the disciples did not hear the Lord's reply. Peter, 
beckoning to John, signed to him to ask the Master, for John sat next the Lord, 
and leaned upon His; breast. When he asked, " Lord, who is it?" Jesus said, 
perhaps in a whisper to John. 

"He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it," and He 
gave it to Judas Iscariot. Then Satan entered fully into the angry, covetous 
heart of Judas, and when Jesus said to him in a low voice, "That thou doest 
do quickly," he rose and went out into the night. Alone with His faithful 
friends, the Lord took bread and blessed it and broke it, and gave to them, 
saying, " Take, eat, this is my body ; this do in remembrance of me." And 
He took the cup, saying, " Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New 
Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." 

And so the Lord founded the Holy Supper of His Church, the mystery 
and the holiness of which you will know more and more as you grow in the 
. heavenly life, and receive through His Spirit the new wine of the Kingdom. 
John, the beloved disciple, kept for us the wonderful and precious words that 
the Lord spoke after the Holy Supper. They are full of a love for His chil- 
dren so deep and wide that we can never hope to measure it. They are 
written in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of John's 
Gospel, and every child should hide them in his memory and heart before 
he is grown, and in after life they will be bread in time of spiritual famine. 



240 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Looking around upon their troubled faces at the table the Lord said to His 
disciples, " Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in 
me. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for 
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive 
you unto myself, that when I am there ye may be also." He answered their 
questions, and He promised them the Comforter — the Holy Spirit of Truth, 
who would teach them all things, and make all the dark things clear. He 
also promised certainly to come back to them and not leave them orphans. 

After they had sung a psalm they arose from the table, but they lingered 
for the Lord's last words and His prayer. He charged them to be steadfast 
and live from Him, as a branch lives from the vine, for He was the true 
spiritual Vine, and without Him they could do nothing. He told them of His 
great love for them, and that they must love one another through all the 
suffering and persecution that was before them, and trust to the Spirit of 
Truth, who would guide them in all things, and teach them the things He 
would say to them, but which they were not yet able to bear. And He 
promised that whatever they should ask the Father in His name should be 
given them. Then lifting up His eyes to heaven He prayed for His disciples, 
and for all disciples who should believe on Him through their word, that they 
might be one with each other and with Him as He was one with the Father, 
and, being made clean from the evil that is in the world that they should be 
with Him forever in heaven. After the prayer they went out of the city, and 
over the brook Kedron into a garden where Jesus had often sat with His 
disciples. 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE NIGHT OF THE BETRAYAL. 

As they went out through the darkness down the valley and over the 
Kedron, Jesus still talked with His disciples. To Peter's question, "Lord, 
where goest thou?" He said, "Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, 
but thou shalt follow me afterwards." " Lord, why cannot I follow thee now?" 
said Peter. " I will lay down my life for thy sake." 

" Verily, verily I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast 
denied me thrice," said Jesus. 

" Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift 




THE HOLY SUPPER. 



242 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

you as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ; and when 
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." 

"All ye shall be offended because of me this night ; for it is written, ' I 
will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered 
abroad.' " 

Jesus and his friends had reached the olive trees of Gethsemane 
when He asked them to sit there while He went away a little distance to 
pray. He took Peter and James and John with Him ; and began to be very 
sorrowful, and He said, 

" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death : tarry ye here and 
watch with me." He went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed, 
saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: neverthe- 
less, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He found His disciples sleeping for 
sorrow, and He said to Peter, "What! could ye not watch with me one hour? 
Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Again He prayed, " O my 
Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be 
done." And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening 
Him. Then there was the sound of the tread of many feet, and the light of 
torches moving among the olive trees, and Judas, leading a band of priests, 
elders and captains of the Temple came toward the little group, and kissed 
Jesus as a sign that He was the One whom they sought. Jesus turned to him 
saying, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" And to the 
others, "Whom seek ye?" 

"Jesus of Nazareth," they answered. And when Jesus had said to 
them, " I am He," they fell backward at the sight of His face. " When I was 
daily with you in the Temple," He said, "ye stretched forth no hands against 
me ; but this is your hour and the power of darkness." Peter drew a sword 
and struck at the high priest's servant in defence of his Master, but Jesus said 
gently, 

" Suffer ye thus far," and touched his ear and healed him. " Put up thy 
sword into the sheath," He added. "The cup which my Father hath given 
me, shall I not drink it ?" 

Then they took Jesus and bound Him to lead Him away, and the disci- 
ples forsook Him and fled, as had been written in the prophets. But John, 
the loving and beloved, came back and followed Jesus. So did Peter, remem- 
bering his vow, but he followed Him afar off 




■.i:Xiii' V-""f vV^'}^-j.'.-." ^■" ^ iCT^ 






GETHSEMANE. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN. 

Jesus was first taken to Annas, the old High-Priest, who sent Him bound 
to Caiaphas, who was his son-in-law, and High-Priest that year. 

John went in with Jesus to the palace of the High-Priest, but Peter stood 
outside the door, shiveringr with the chill of the nigrht, but more with fear. 

A servant girl at the door said, when John came out to bring him in, 

"Art not thou also one of this man's disciples ?" 

And Peter said, " I am not." 

Restless and unhappy, he walked about, or warmed himself by the fire, 
until three had accused him of being a follower of Jesus, and three times he 
had denied his Lord. Then there came a sound that struck him through — he 
heard through the open windows the crowing of a cock. It had crowed once 
before, but he did not think then of what the Lord had said, but now his 
memory and conscience were wide awake, for, as he looked over the heads of 
the people towards Jesus standing bound and alone before the High-Priest, 
the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. That look broke Peter's heart, and 
he rushed out of the place, and wept bitterly. 

There was a mock trial which would pain the heart of a child to dwell 
upon, and which we will not describe at length. It is enough to know that 
the Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world, was will- 
ingly in the power of His enemies, and going down to death. A wonderful 
description of the trial and death of the Messiah may be found in the fifty- 
third chapter of Isaiah, which was fulfilled in the trial and death of Jesus. The 
hatred of the priests, the scoffings, the blows, and the cruel words of the people 
we will not describe. " He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He 
opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as 
a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." Finally 
Caiaphas cried, 

"I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the 
Christ, the Son of God!" Jesus said, 

"I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." 

Then the High Priest rent his garments as if shocked at such profanity, 
and said, 
(244) 




JESUS BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 



246 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

"Ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye ? " And they all con- 
demned Him to be guilty of death. 

There was another gathering of the priests in the morning as the day 
began to dawn. There were more cruel words and blows for the Divine Man 
who was bearing the sins of the world, and He was taken away to Pilate. 

And where was the wretched man who had sold his Master into the 
hands of His enemies ! 

He could not have thought that he was bringing death on His Master ; 
but when at last he saw the Lord coming, pale, sufifering and bound, down the 
marble steps, and heard " Death ! death !" on every side, he became terrified. 
He had no one to turn to, for he had not a friend among men. He ran to the 
Temple and, finding some priests, begged them take back the money they had 
given him, saying, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." 

" What is that to us," said the heartless priests. See thou to that." 

Then Judas cast the thirty pieces of silver over the marble floor, and fled 
from the place. Afterward he was found outside the city, where he had 
hanged himself. The priests could not put the price of blood in the Lord's 
treasury, and so they bought with it a field in which to bury strangers. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

THE KING OF HEAVEN AT THE BAR OF PILATE. 

. Pilate, the Roman Governor, who had come up from Caesarea by the sea 
to keep order in Jerusalem during the Passover, was in his fine palace called 
"The Praetorium." Adjoining was "The Hall of Judgment," where cases 
were brought to the Governor to be judged, and just outside this Hall was a 
place called "The Pavement." It was a broad floor of many-colored marbles, 
open toward the city, and having an ivory judgment-seat. 

While the morning was lighting the gold of the Temple roof to splendor, 
there was a deep shadow over the friends of Jesus. Their Lord was being 
led through the streets of Jerusalem by Roman guards, condemned to die. 
His mother and the women who believed in Him were in the city and saw 
Him, perhaps, as He was hurried by, pale and weak from the cruelty of 
wicked men. The priests would not go into the Judgment Hall for fear of 
defilement at the time of their Feast, so Pilate came out to "The Pavement" 




JESUS CROWNED WITH THORNS. 



248 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

and sat down upon the ivory judgment seat. He was a stern, proud man 
wearing a white toga with a rich purple border — the robe of a Roman ruler. 

"What accusation do you bring against this man," asked Pilate, looking 
at the pure, pallid face of the Divine Man, and turning to the dark and evil 
faces of His accusers. To their complaining remark, "If he were not a male- 
factor we would not have delivered him up unto thee," Pilate replied, 

" Take ye him and judge him according to your law." 

When they replied that (under Roman rule) it was not lawful for them to 
put any man to death. Pilate did not wish to condemn that just One of whom 
he had known nothing but good, for he had heard of His miracles, and had 
doubtless heard his wife speak of the young Rabbi. He rose and went into 
the Hall, ordering the guards to bring Jesus to him. Then he questioned Him, 

" Art thou the King of the Jews ?" he asked. 

"My Kingdom is not of this world," said Jesus. "If my Kingdom was 
of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to 
the Jews ; but now my Kingdom is not from hence." 

" Art thou a king then ? " said Pilate. 

"Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this 
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every 
one that is of the truth heareth my voice." 

"What is truth?" said Pilate, wondering, perhaps, what kingdom of 
truth this harmless man was dreaming of, and then he rose and went forth to 
the people on "The Pavement" who were saying that this man was stirring 
up the people from Galilee to Jerusalem. 

Pilate, hearing that Jesus was a Galilean, sent him to the palace of Herod 
Antipas, who ruled over that province, and who was now in Jerusalem, but 
He was sent back to Pilate crowned with thorns and wearing a faded purple 
robe. The Roman soldiers had jested about His kingship, and Antipas had 
cruelly carried it out in returning Him in this dress to Pilate, through the 
streets of the city. He had been tried the fourth time and now Pilate made 
another effort to set Him free, He questioned Him again and heard the com- 
plaints of the Jews, but Jesus would not defend Himself. 

" Hearest thou not how many things, they witness against thee ? " said 
Pilate. "Answerest thou nothing?" If Jesus would only defend Himself ! 

Then Pilate thought he would scourge Jesus to satisfy His enemies, and 
let Him go. 

"Ye have brought this man unto me," he said to the chief priests, "as 
one that perverteth the people, and behold, I, having examined him before you, 




THE SIN OF PETER. 



250 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

have found no fault in this man. No, nor yet Herod. I will therefore chas- 
tise him and release him." 

The cry of " Crucify him ! crucify him ! " rose again. 

A message was sent to Pilate from his wife, which deepened the shadow 
on his face. "Have thou nothing to do with that just man," she said, "for 
I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." 

The people had been persuaded by the priests to ask for Barabbas, and 
when Pilate asked which of the two he should release to them, they cried, 

" Barabbas ! " 

" What shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ ? " and all cried, 

" Let him be crucified ! " 

" Why, what evil hath he done ? " asked Pilate, but the cry was so great 
he could bear it no longer, and calling a slave to bring water, he washed his 
hands before them as a sign that he took no blame for the act, and said, 

" I am innocent of the blood of this just person : see ye to it," but they 
cried, 

" His blood be upon us, and upon our children." And when Pilate had 
given the order to scourge and crucify Jesus, he went into his palace. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

LOVE AND DEATH. 

Jesus had been meeting and conquering evil all His life, and in the last 
hour of it the last enemy was overcome. There were no children at the 
cross when Jesus laid down His life for us all, and we will not lead you 
there to point out all the means used by evil men to increase the suffering of 
our Lord. It was greatest within the great Heart of Love which broke for 
the sins of the world, and when you have learned the nature of Spirit you 
will be able to understand that Jesus chose to pass through an earthly life 
of poverty and temptation, and die a painful and shameful death, that He 
might be the Brother of the poor, the tempted, the suffering and the dying. 
" He was taken from prison and from judgment :" " He poured out His soul 
unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors ;" " He bore the sins 
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." So Isaiah wrote of 
the coming Messiah seven hundred years before. But so blind were the 




'ART THOU A KING?" 



,52 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 



Jews that they could not see that the Redeemer had come to Zion, "He came 
unto His own and His own received Him not." 

Bearing His cross He went forth meekly to death, and when He fell 
beneath the heavy cross, the Roman soldiers forced a passing stranger to 
carry it. All along the street women wept for pity as He passed, and there 
was sorrow in many hearts for the M?n whom they had believed in as the One 
who was to deliver their nation. 

But the eleven disciples — where were they ? In deep grief somewhere ; 
but only one— John the Beloved — followed his Master down to death. With 
the suffering mother of Jesus and the faithful women disciples he kept near 
his Lord. They saw the rough soldiers as they took the Lord's garments and 
divided them among themselves, and when they put His body upon the cross 
they heard Him pray, 

" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do !" 

Two robbers were crucified with Jesus, upon His right hand and on His 
left. One begged Him to save him, and reviled Him because He did not; 
but the other said, " Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy King- 
dom." And Jesus said, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with 

me in Paradise." 

His dying eyes also beheld His mother standing by the cross with the 
beloved John and the faithful women who had been His friends. The hour 
had come spoken of by Simeon in the Temple when he said, "Yea a sword 
shall pierce through thy own soul also." Jesus, looking at His mother sup- 
ported by John said, 

"Woman, behold thy son !" And to the disciple He said, " Son, behold 
thy mother!" And from that hour John took her to his own home to love 
and care for her through the rest of her Hfe. 

We will not look at the darkness that rolled over the sky, shutting out 
the light of the sun, or the sights and sounds of that day on Calvary. Jesus, 
thinking of the redemption He had wrought out for us, bowed His head and 

said, 

"It is finished! Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Then 
the great veil before the Holy Place in the Temple was torn in two from the 
top t'o the bottom, as a sign that the Lord Jesus by His death had opened the 
way for us into life eternal. 




JESUS BEARING THE CROSS. 



14 



CHAPTER XLIV, 

LOVE AND LIFE. 

There was a good man of Arimathea named Joseph who was a disciple 
of Jesus, but not a fearless one. He had not followed Jesus with the twelve, 
but he had loved Him, and when he knew that his Master, who had not where 
to lay His head in life, had not a place of burial in death, he lost all fear and 
went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. This Pilate willingly gave him, 
and he, bringing helpers, took the body from the cross and tenderly brought 
it to his own garden in which was a new tomb hewn out of the rock. In this 
peaceful garden-room for the dead they laid Him, wrapped Him in fine linen 
and spices, for another disciple who had not dared to follow Jesus openly had 
come with a mixture of myrrh and aloes of a hundred pounds weight to 
embalm the body of Jesus. This was Nicodemus who had a talk with Jesus 
by night among the olive trees about the breath of God in man. So these 
two rich men buried Jesus, and a prophecy was fulfilled. 

We do not know that any of the eleven disciples helped to bury Jesus, 
but, while John took the mother of Jesus to a place of rest and safety, his own 
mother, Salome, and Mary, the mother of James, and Mary Magdalene stood 
looking on afar off There were other women also, who helped to guard the 
body of the crucified Lord when it seemed to be forsaken of all men. They 
marked the place where He lay and went away, for the hours of "prepara- 
tion " and the Sabbath were before them. On the eve of Friday they 
"prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day (seventh day) 
according to the commandment. But Roman soldiers came and set a seal 
upon the tomb, and watched it night and day. On the first day of the week 
(now the Christian Sabbath) very early in the morning, while the streets were 
still, and there lay only a faint streak of rose in the purple east, Mary 
Magdalene hastened out of the city to the tomb in the garden, bearing her 
spices. When she reached the place she saw no guards there, and the heavy 
stone was rolled away from the door of the tomb. A great fear fell upon the 
woman who "loved much," and she ran to find Peter and John. "They have 
taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre," she said, "and we know not 
where they have laid Him." 

Then Peter and John ran, and John the loving ran faster than Peter the 
believinof, and was the first to reach the tomb. The other women also had 
(254) 




THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS. 



256 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

gone to the tomb early bearing their spices for the embalming, wondering on 
the way who should roll away for them the great stone that stood at the door 
of the tomb. But they found the stone rolled past the door, and entering the 
low vestibule they saw a vision of an angel, in a long white garment, and were 
afraid. 

"Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified," he said; " He is risen ; 
He is not here : behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way, 
tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall 
ye see Him, as He said unto you." 

The Lord had left a special message for Peter who had denied Him so 
cruelly and had repented so thoroughly! As they looked to "behold the 
place where they laid Him," they saw another angel shining white through the 
gloom, "one at the head, and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus 
had lain." Thev also ran, glad, yet half afraid, to tell the disciples what they 
had seen and heard. 

Peter and John found the linen that had wrapped the Lord's body laid 
carefully aside. They did not yet remember the prophecy concerning His 
resurrection from the dead, but they believed He had risen, and they went 
away, hoping perhaps, that He was seeking them. 

Mary Magdalene could not leave the empty tomb until she had learned 
something more about the Lord. Weeping and desolate she stood at the 
low door of the cave-tomb, and stooping to look in again she saw the vision 
of angels that the other women had seen, " one at the head and the other at 
the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." 

" Why weepest thou ? " they asked, and she answered, 

" Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they 
have laid Him." As she turned to go out into the garden she saw one stand- 
ing there who said, 

" Woman why weepest thou ? Whom seekest thou ? " 

She thought as she looked through her tears that it must be the man 
who kept the garden, so she said, 

" Sir, if thou have borne Him hence tell me where thou hast laid Him^ 
arid I will take Him away." 

"Mary!" 

It was the voice of Jesus — the same that once said to her, "Thy sins are 
forgiven," and she spread her arms to clasp His feet, crying. 

" Rabboni ! — my Master !" 

"Touch me not," He said, "for I am not yet ascended to my Father: 




THE ANGEL OF THE RESURRECTION. 



258 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

but go to my brethren and say unto them, 'I ascend unto my Father and your 
Father : and to my God and your God.' " 

It was while Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, were still 
in the garden, perhaps, that Jesus met them and said, 

"All hail !" and they fell at His feet and worshipped Him. 

" Be not afraid," He said, " go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee 
and there shall they see me." 

When the women told all these things to the apostles who had come to- 
gether to mourn for their dead Master, they could not believe. But the first 
Easter had risen upon the world, and though the joy of it filled all heaven, 
only a few women knew the blessed secret on earth, and were saying over 
and over, "The Lord is risen ! the Lord is risen indeed !" 



CHAPTER XLV. 

THE EVENING OF EASTER. 

It was the afternoon of the same day in which the women had brought 
such strange stories from the tomb of the buried Christ, that two disciples 
went out to their home at Emmaus, a village about eight miles from Jerusalem. 
They had been in the upper room where they often gathered, and had heard 
the stories of Mary Magdalene, and of Peter and John, and they knew not 
what to believe. 

As Cleopas and his companion (Luke, perhaps) went westward over the 
hills they talked of all these strange things with bowed heads and sad hearts, 
for Jesus, the One whom they had trusted was the Redeemer of Israel, was 
crucified, dead and buried, and as for the words of these women, they seemed 
like idle tales ; but what if they should be true ? 

Another step seemed to fall beside theirs, and looking up they saw a 
noble looking young Stranger who was following the same road. He greeted 
them and said, 

" What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another 
as ye walk, and are sad?" 

"Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem," Cleopas said, "and hast not 
known the things that are come to pass there in these days?" 

"What things?" asked the Stranger, and they said, "Concerning Jesus 
of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and 




THE WAI.K TO EMMAUS. 



26o CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be 
condemned to death, and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had 
been He which should have redeemed Israel : and besides all this to-day is 
the third day since these things were done." 

Cleopas also told the story of the women who had come from the sepul- 
chre that morning talking of a vision of angels, with that of Peter and John, 
who had gone also, and found it even as the women had said. 

Then the Stranger began to speak to them of many things, and in words 
so full of wisdom and love and faith that their hearts were drawn with Him to 
believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. He told them that they were 
very foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. 
"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things," He said, "and to enter 
into His glory ;" and He explained to them all the Scriptures that foretold 
the coming, the suffering, and the death of the Messiah, until the two hours' 
walk seemed as nothing. 

As they came to the village where they lived, and the Stranger was pass- 
ing on, they urged Him to come with them into the low white house near by 
which was the house of one of them. "Abide with us," they said, "for it is 
toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went with them, and sat 
down with them to their evening meal. 

Then another and strange beautiful vision was given at the sunset of the 
first Easter Day, like that which was given to the women at its dawn. The 
Stranger took bread and blessed it and broke it, and as He handed it to each 
disciple their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. It was the Lord ! But 
in a moment He had vanished from their sight, and they could only wonder 
and believe. They began to recall His words. " Did not our hearts burn 
within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the 
Scriptures ?" 

Perhaps they ate the bread that He had broken as they would take the 
sacrament, and then rose, though the day was fading over the hills of Ephraim 
and hurried back to Jerusalem to the friend's house where the disciples met. 
There in the upper room, the doors closed and guarded for fear of the Jews, 
they told the story of the Stranger to the eager disciples, and found that the 
Lord had also appeared to Peter. 

In the midst of the joy and the wonder there fell a strange hush over the 
little company, for suddenly the Lord was seen standing in the midst and they 
heard the greeting so dear and familiar to them all, 

" Peace be unto you !" and to them all He spread His hands having the 



THE LORD'S LAST DAYS WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 261 

print of the nails in them, and showed them His side that bore the mark of 
the Roman spear. That they might be still more sure He was the Lord and 
Master they had loved and followed (for they were afraid), He asked them 
to touch him ; and as they had been at supper together He asked to share 
their meal, and He ate of the broiled fish and of the honey-comb before them. 
After this He talked lovingly with them of Himself — of the fulfillment of the 
prophecies concerning Him and of the work of the kingdom that was before 
them. Again he blessed them, and breathed on them, saying, "Receive ye 
the Holy Ghost." And so ended the day of the Lord's resurrection from the 
dead — the first Easter of the Christian Church. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE lord's last DAYS WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 

On Easter evening, when the Lord's friends were gathered in the upper 
room where He appeared to them, one of the eleven was absent. There 
were others beside the apostles — Cleopas and his companion, and probably 
the women of Galilee, as well as Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany, 
but Thomas was not there. The others had told him that the Lord had 
shown Himself to them and had broken bread with them, but he could not 
believe. He believed, perhaps, in a vision, but not in the return of the cruci- 
fied Jesus. He declared, 

" Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger 
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." 

A week passed, and the disciples were again gathered in the upper room, 
and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut and guarded as before, 
but, as before the Lord suddenly stood in the midst, saying, 

" Peace be unto you." Then He turned to Thomas with gentle rebuke, 

"Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy 
hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but believing." Thomas 
did not wait to touch the Lord, but cried, 

" My Lord and my God ! " 

"Thomas," He said, "because thou hast seen me thou hast believed; 
blessed are they that have not seen and have believed." 

Soon after this the apostles went away into Galilee, as the Lord had com- 
manded them to do. There by the Lake where He had called them from 



262 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

their nets to follow Him they waited for Him. Peter, and James, and John 
were there, with Thomas, and Nathanael, and two others of His disciples. 
The old love for the Lake came back to Peter, and he said, 

"I go a fishing," and the others said, 

"We also go with thee," and they went out for a night with the nets on 
the Lake, but they caught nothing. In the morning as they drew a little 
nearer land they saw a dim figure on the shore and heard a voice saying to 
them, 

"Children, have ye any meat?" They answered "No," and then the 
clear voice came across the water saying, 

"Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." This they 
did, and so heavy did the net become with fishes that they were not able to 
draw it. Perhaps John remembered another day on the Lake when the nets 
broke with the weight of the fishes, and looking at the figure standing on the 
shore in the sunrise, he said to Peter, 

"It is the Lord !" 

Peter did not wait to reply, but tying his fisher's coat around him he threw 
himself into the Lake to swim towards His Master on the shore. The others 
followed in the ship dragging the net with them, and when they had landed 
they found a fire of coals there, with fish laid upon it and bread, and the Lord 
Himself standing there as one who served. 

"Bring of the fish ye have now caught," He said. And Peter, first to 
obey, drew the net to land full of great fishes — one hundred and fifty-three — 
and the net was not broken. While they were silent for joy and wonder, 
knowing that it was the Lord, and yet not daring to question Him, He said, 
"Come and dine." And there upon the sands the Lord for the third time 
since He rose from the dead, broke bread with his disciples. John, the belov- 
ed disciple was there, but it is not recorded that Jesus spoke to him person- 
ally. His heart was wholly with his Lord, and he did not need the loving 
help that was given to doubting Thomas, and self-confident, wavering Peter. 
To Simon Peter He said after they had finished their simple meal, 

"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" 

Peter must have remembered that he had vehemently declared, "Although 
all shall be offended, yet will not I. If I should die with Thee yet I will not 
deny Thee in any wise," and had straightway forsaken and denied Him, Now 
he said simply and humbly, 

"Yea, Lord: Thou knowest that I love Thee." And the Lord an- 
swered, " Feed my lambs." 




THE ASCENSION. 



264 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

Again the Lord asked him the same question, and Peter gave the same 
reply. And the Lord said, " Feed my sheep." 

When the Lord had asked this question the third time, Peter, full of love 
and grief cried, 

"Lord, Thou knowest all things : Thou knowest that I love thee." And 
the Lord answered again, " Feed my sheep." 

By this Peter knew that the Lord trusted him to be an aposde, and teach 
the gospel of the kingdom to all men, but that he must have a steadfast love 
and faith. The Lord also said, " When thou wast young thou guidedst thy- 
self, and walk^ whither thou wouldest ; but when thou shalt be old thou shalt 
stretch forth thy hands and another shall guide thee, and carry thee whither 
thou wouldest not." Afterward Peter was crucified as his Lord had been, 
and then John remembered these words of the Lord about him. As the Lord 
said to Peter, " Follow me," Peter saw John following also, and he said, won- 
dering, perhaps, why the Lord had no word of counsel, of rebuke, or of 
prophecy for John, 

" Lord, and what shall this man do ?" And Jesus replied, " If I will that 
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou me." And they went 
away from the Lake, following the Lord, as they had done three years before 
when He called them to be "fishers of men." 



( ( 



CHAPTER XLVII. 



HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 



Once more the Lord met His little company of followers and gave the 
apostles authority to found the Kingdom of God among men. " All power 
has been given to me," He said, "in heaven and on earth." 

And this was the work that He gave them to do : "Go ye therefore and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you." 

And this was His true word of promise to them : " Lo I am with you 
always, even unto the end of the world. And, behold, I send the promise of 
my Father upon you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued 
with power from on high." 

It was about six weeks after His death that the disciples were again in 



"HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN." 265, 

Jerusalem where the Lord had told them to go and wait for the coming of His 
Spirit. He led them out over the Mount of Olives as far as Bethany, where the 
house of Martha had been a place of rest and refreshment for the homeless 
Man of Sorrows while He was founding His Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. 

As they ascended a hill just above Bethany, the Lord could see spread 
out before Him the Hebron hills toward Bethlehem where He was born : the 
great city with its golden Temple where He had taught and had been re- 
jected ; Gethsemane, where He had suffered, and had been betrayed ; and 
beyond the western walls the place where He had been crucified. Not far 
from Golgotha was the garden and the tomb in which He had been buried, 
and from which He had risen. 

He was about to leave the little group that He had made the founders 
of His Kingdom, and one of them ventured a question, 

" Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel ? " And 
the Lord replied, 

" It is not for you to know the time and the seasons, which the Father 
hath put in His own power. But ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of 
the earth." 

Then He blessed them, and while they were looking at Him He was 
lifted above them, and a cloud seemed to come between them and their 
Divine Master. 

While they still gazed toward heaven hoping perhaps to see Him again, 
two men in white garments stood by them and said, 

" Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same 
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." 

Then they worshipped their ascended Lord, and returned to Jerusalem 
full of joy and praise, to meet the other disciples in the upper room, to tell 
them of what they had seen, and to wait for the Promise of the Father. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER. 

While the disciples of Jesus waited in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy 
Spirit — the Comforter — who was to come and teach them all things, and 



266 CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. 

bring all the Lord's words to their remembrance, they were much in prayer, 
and looked to the Lord for direction about the things of the Kingdom. 

Peter did much to help the others, for his faith had grown stronger, and 
he was no longer afraid. Many who had partly believed in Jesus before His 
crucifixion, and who had come to believe in the risen Lord, joined the little 
band, until they numbered one hundred and twenty at one of their meetings, 
and the mother of Jesus was among them. At this meeting Peter proposed 
that some disciple who could be a witness with them to the Lord's resurrec- 
tion should be appointed to the place that Judas once held in the circle of the 
twelve. The ten disciples agreed with Peter, and two were chosen — Joseph 
and Matthias. Then they prayed that the Lord Himself would show them 
which of these two He wished to be an Apostle, and when they cast lots the 
lot fell upon Matthias. 

When the upper room became too small they went to a larger one that 
was more public, and did not try to guard their doors, for the priests had 
become afraid of the people as well as of the signs at the time of the Lord's 
death, when the sky was darkened, the rocks rent by an earthquake, and the 
Temple veil by an unseen Hand, 

The Feast of the Weeks came on, and at the end of May — the day of 
Pentecost (the fiftieth after the second day of the Passover), the Lord's little 
church had gathered in their large public room to pray and wait for the 
Promise. Suddenly there came a sound from the heavens like the rushing of 
a mighty wind, and with it came a flash of fire which was not lightning, but 
which divided into many, and sat above the brow of each like a soft, bright 
tongue of flame. 

Then the silence was broken, and they all began to praise God in other 
languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance, for the Promise of the Father 
had been given, and the Lord Himself had come to dwell in His people — not 
only in these, but in all who should believe on Him through their word. 

There were some good Jews present who had come from foreign coun- 
tries to the Feast, and spoke other languages, and when each heard his own 
language spoken by these unlearned men they were astonished. The news 
spread and many came to hear. "Are not all these which speak Galileans?" 
they asked, "and how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we 
were born? What meaneth this?" Others made light of it all, and said 
that they were full of new wine. 

Then Peter, strong in the power ot the Holy Spirit, stood up and spoke 
to the people. You will find Peter's sermon in the second chapter of Acts, 



THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER. 267 

and his text was a wonderful saying of the prophet Joel, beginning, as Peter 
gave it, — 

"And it shall come to pass in the last days I will pour out of my Spirit 
upon all flesh : and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your 
young men shall dream dreams ; and on my servants, and on my handmaidens 
I will pour out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy. And it 
shall came to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be 
saved." 

Peter did not spare the enemies of our Lord in his sermon, nor did he 
fear them. He preached to them of Jesus of Nazareth, and whom they had 
taken and by wicked hands had crucified and slain : and whom God had 
raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that 
He should be holden of it. He closed by telling them that God had made 
that same Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ. 

There were many among the people gathered there who were pricked in 
their hearts because of Peter's words, which had the power of the Holy 
Spirit in them. They looked at each other and said, 

" Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" 

Peter encouraged them to repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus 
Christ, telling them that the promise was to them and to their children, and 
to all that were afar off 

It was a wonderful day for the Church of Jesus Christ, and for His 
Kingdom on the earth, for there were about three thousand who that day 
received baptism, and joined the little despised company of the followers of 
Jesus of Nazareth. And all that believed were drawn together by the love 
of the Lord Jesus, and no longer lived for themselves, but for each other. That 
there might be no rich and no poor among them, they sold their possessions 
and parted them to all, as every one had need. In the Temple, in each other's 
houses breaking bread together, wherever they were they were happy and 
strong in their new faith and in favor with all the people. Though great 
trials and persecutions came after awhile, they bore them as seeing their 
invisible Lord, and they joyfully met the loss of all things — even that of life 
itself with a smile, remembering the Father's House with its many mansions, 
and their spiritual Elder Brother who had gone to prepare a place for them. 



AN AFTERWORD. 

Dear Child: — God's Book is a Book of Ages, a Book of Races, and a 
Book of Nations ; but it is far more, it is a Book through which God Himself 
speaks to the soul of man. We begin to read it thinking that He is speaking 
to the mind ; afterward, when our conscience wakes, we believe He speaks to 
the heart, but at last we find that He speaks to the inmost spirit — the 
immortal soul. Then all that had seemed to be history, poetry, biography, 
philosophy, begins to be to us the voice of God in the inmost of the soul, 
speaking of the life of the spirit. 

We find at last, too, that One has walked beside us all the way, teaching 
us by His Spirit as He taught the people on the hill-side, or by the lake-side 
in Galilee : the One who said, " Before Abraham was, I am" — the Child of 
Bethlehem, whose name was called "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty 
God, the Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." That you, dear child, 
may find Him walking close beside your way, be in the habit of walking daily 
with Him in the paths of His Word, and He will reveal Himself to you there. 



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